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Theological    Seminary, 

PRINCETON,    N.    X 

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BX    9941     .D4    1832 
Dean,    Paul,     1789-1860. 
A   course    of    lectures    in 
defence    of    the    final 

'— 

i|k. 

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http://www.archive.org/details/courseoflecturesOOdean 


COURSE    OF    LECTURES 


IN    DEFENCE 


OF 


THE    FINAL   RESTORATION. 

DELIVERED      IN     THE     BULFINCH      STREET     CHURCH, 

BOSTON,     IN     THE     WINTER     OF     EIGHTEEN 

HUNDRED     AND    THIRTY    TWO. 


BY    PAUL    DEAN 


I  am  set  for  the  defence  of  the  Gospel. — Paul. 


BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED     BY     EDWIN    M .     STONE. 

1  832. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of    Congress    in  the   year  1832, 

By  Edwin  M.  Stone, 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  Massachusetts. 


PRESS  OF  THE  INDEPENDENT  MESSENGER. 


PREFACE. 


The  subject  presented  to  the  mind  in  these  lectures, 
is  one  of  the  deepest  interest  to  the  reader.  Whether  we 
shall  be  personally  happy,  is  a  question  of  the  highest 
concern  to  every  rational  being  ;  and  whether  the  world 
will  be  made  virtuous  and  happy  is  one  of  the  highest 
general  interest  to  all  mankind.  In  the  same  ratio  as  we 
feel  concerned  in  the  event,  shall  we  feel  interested  in 
the  means  by  which  that  event  is  to  be  effected  ',  and 
therefore  the  revelation  of  the  gospel,  being  the  only 
method  by  which  either  the  knowledge  or  happiness  of 
heaven  can  be  acquired,  will  ever  command  our  most 
devout  consideration. 

Even  that  view  of  religion  which  promises  the  salva- 
tion of  a  part  of  the  world  only,  is  infinitely  to  be  prefer- 
red to  infidelity,  which  sweeps  the  whole  world  to  one 
common  grave  of  oblivion.  But  that  view  of  the  gospel 
plan  advocated  in  this  course,  embracing,  as  it  does,  the 
universal  restoration,  and  that,  without  setting  aside  the 
necessity  of  experimental  and  practical  godliness, or  weak- 
ening the  motives  to  a  good  life,  must  always  commend 
itself  to  the  approbation  and  the  best  wishes  of  every 
truly  benevolent  and  phinlhropic  heart.  And  if,  as  we 
sincerely  believe,  it  has  the  united  support  of  revelation, 
who  would  not  wish  to  understand  and  believe,  as  well 
as  to  support  it  ? 

Although  we  thus  speak,  and  speak  it  to  the  honor   of 
human  nature,  yet  we  apprehend  and  fear  that  the    self- 


IV.  PREFACE. 

ish  and  narrow  minded  will  feel  but  little  interest  in  it  ; 
that  the  worldly  minded  will  despise  its  good  tiding?,  and 
neglect  its  reasonable  injunctions  ;  and  that  the  wicked 
and  abandoned  will  prefer  something  else,  and  that  for 
the  same  reason  that  such  persons  in  the  days  of  our  Sa- 
viour chose  darkness  rather  than  light,  "  because  their 
deeds  were  evil." 

No  hope  of  gain,  or  desire  of  polemic  fame,  has  in- 
duced the  publication  of  these  lectures.  The  principal 
object  of  their  being  given  to  the  public,  especially  with- 
out that  thorough  revision,  which  a  firmer  state  of  health 
and  more  leisure  on  the  part  of  the  author,  would  have 
afforded,  is  the  gratification  of  many  friends  who  heard 
them,  and  desired  the  opportunity  of  reading  them.  Also 
a  wish  to  afford  the  community,  and  particularly  the  re- 
ligious public,  a  more  general  and  condensed  account  of 
the  sentiments  of  the  Restorationists,  and  of  their  rea- 
sons for  the  adoption  and  support  of  them. 

Leaving  to  others,  better  qualified  for  it,  the  task  of 
gratifying  the  literary  taste  of  an  enlightened  public,  it  has 
been  my  aim  to  offer  the  sincere  and  plain  inquirer  after 
religious  truth,  a  sure  and  safe  guide  to  its  attainment. 
And  to  place  religion  in  such  a  light  as  that  while  it  has 
the  full  support  of  the  Bible,  and  the  perfect  approba- 
tion of  its  Divine  Author  ;  it  may  also  command  the  re- 
spect and  veneration  of  all  good  men,  and  receive  the 
hearty  assent  of  every  reasonable  and  unbiased  mind. 
If  in  ever  so  small  a  degree  these  objects  shall  be  real- 
ised— if  the  skeptical  shall  be  established  in  the  love  of 
truth,  and  made  more  friendly  to  religion,  then  will  my 
humble  effort  be  rewarded. 


PREFACE.  V 

Of  the  correctness  of  the  sentiments  advanced,  and  of 
the  validity  and  conclusiveness  of  the  reasoning  adduced 
in  their  support,  the  reader  will  judge  for  himself,  after 
a  candid,  faithful  and  impartial  examination.  The  wri- 
ter can  only  say,  they  are  such  as  he  most  sacredly  be- 
lieves to  be  according  to  scripture,  justice  and  sound  rea- 
son. And  such  as  he  is  fully  persuaded,  will,  when  re- 
ceived and  reduced  to  practice,  promote  the  peace  and 
happiness  of  society,  by  affording  the  best  grounds  of 
faith  in  the  gospel,  the  best  motives  to  the  practice  of 
virtue,  and  the  strongest  incentives  to  universal  good  will 
among  men. 

It  has  been  the  aim  to  treat  all  denominations  and  par- 
ties with  respect  and  kindness  ;  while  at  the  same  time 
great  plainness  has  been  observed  in  regard  to  their  sen- 
timents, so  far  as  they  have  been  alluded  to.  The  mo- 
dern scheme,  which  limits  rewards  and  punishments  with 
all  motives  of  virtue  and  religion  to  the  present  life,  has 
been  alluded  to  incidentally,  and  opinions  of  its  charac- 
ter and  tendency  expressed  with  honest  frankness,  and 
from  a  conscientious  sense  of  duly  ;  but  without  attempt- 
ing its  general  investigation  ;  such  investigation  not  com- 
ing within  the  scope  of  our  prescribed  limits  and  design. 
The  same  remark  is  true  of  several  other  topics  and 
opinions,  which    have  received   more  or  less  notice. 

In  a  similar  way,  the  subject  of  temporal  death  has 
been  treated  as  wholly  a  physical  matter,  not  affecting  in 
the  least  the  moral  relation  between  the  soul  and  its  Mak- 
er— not  changing  the  nature  of  his  moral  government 
over  it,  or  its  own  moral  power  to  comply  with  his  re- 
quirements ;  and  not  therefore  placing  it  beyond  the  means 
of  grace,  such  as  are  suited  to    its  condition,  it  being  still 


VI.  PREFACE. 

under  the  gracious  government  of  Christ.  This  is 
thought  to  he  the  most  scriptural,  rational,  and  consola- 
tory view  of  death.  Yet  there  is  as  wide  a  difference  be- 
tween the  future  emendatory  punishment  of  the  wicked 
as  we  view  it,  and  the  Papal  doctrine  of  purgatory,  as 
there  is  between  the  punishments  of  this  life  and  purgatory. 

An  intermediate  state  of  moral  conscious  existence 
for  the  soul  between  death  and  the  resurrection,  has 
also  been  considered,  as  sustained  by  the  word  of  God, 
and  by  the  economy  every  where  observable  in  the  works 
of  Jehovah,  which  would  ill  justify  the  useless  sleep  of 
Abraham  and  others,  from  their  early  death  to  the  res- 
urrection. This  state  is  also  required  by  the  divine  im- 
partiality in  the  bestowment  of  the  means  of  grace,  which 
are  certainly  not  equally  bestowed  on  men  in  the  present 
life  ;  instance  the  heathen,  idiots,  infants,  to  say  nothing 
of  others;  and  hence  if  the  means  of  grace  are  ever 
equalized,  they  must  be  equalized  in  an  intermediate 
state.  Further,  there  are  many  promises  of  God  which 
are  not  accomplished  in  this  life,  and  if  there  be  no  con- 
scious state  between  death  and  heaven,  they  never  can 
be. 

These  subjects  are  here  alluded  to  merely  to  throw 
light  on  some  passages  in  the  lectures  ;  but  as  this  view 
of  death  and  the  conscious  state  of  the  dead  are  calculat- 
ed to  obviate  many  difficulties  in  theology,  they  will,  no 
doubt,  soon  receive  an  ample  discussion,  and  be  shown 
to  be  scriptural,  honorable  to  God,  and  beneficial  to  men. 

With  these  few  remarks,  the  following  course  of  lec- 
tures is,  with  humble  diffidence,  submitted  to  a  liberal 
public  ;  and  that  they  who  read  may  be  blessed  of  hea- 
ven, is  the  fervent  prayer  of 

The  Author. 


CONTENTS. 


LECTURE  I. 

QUESTION  STATED,  AND  ITS  IMPORTANCE. 

Page  9—26. 


LECTURE  II. 
OBJECTION   I. 

Page  27—42. 


LECTURE  III. 

OBJECTION  II. 

Page  42—56. 


LECTURE  IV. 
DURATION  OF   PUNISHMENT  CONSIDERED. 

Page  57—85. 


LECTURE  V. 
ANOTHER  OBJECTION  CONSIDERED. 

Page  86—105. 


.  V  A 
V 1 1 1 .  '-.  \     CONTENTS. 


LECTURE  VI. 
PttOOFS  OF  THE  FINAL  RESTORATION, 

DRAWN    FROM     THE    DIVINE    ATTRJEUTES. 

Page  ICG — 121. 


LECTURE  VII. 

PROOFS  OF  THE  FINAL  RESTORATION, 

DRAWN   FROM   THE  MISSION,  WORKS   AND   DEATH   OF  CHRIST. 

Page  122—137. 


LECTURE  VIII. 
PROOFS  OF  THE  FINAL  RESTORATION, 

DRAWN    FROM    THE    PROMISES    OF    GOD. 

Page  138—154. 


LFXTURE  IX. 
PROOFS   OF  THE  FINAL  RESTORATION, 

DRAWN    FROM    THE    NATURE    AND    TENDENCY    OF    CHRISTIAN 
MORAMTV. 

Page  155—172. 


LECTURE  X. 
PROOFS  OF  THE  FINAL  RESTORATION, 

DRAWN    FROM    THE    NATURE    OF    MAN    AND    THE      SCRIPTURAL 
CHARACTER    OF     FUTURE     HAPPINESS. 

Page  173—192. 


LECTURE  I. 

QUESTION    STATED,   AND  ITS  IMPORTANCE. 


ACTS  III.  20,  21. 

AND  HE  SHALL  SEND  JESUS  CHRIST,  WHICH  BEFORE  WAS 
PREACHED  UNTO  YOU  :  WHOM  THE  HEAVEN  MU8T  RE- 
CEIVE, UNTIL  THE  TIMES  OF  THE  RESTITUTION  OF  ALL 
THINGS,  WHICH  GOD  HATH  8POKEN  BY  THE  MOUTH  OF 
ALL    HIS    HOLY    PROPHETS    SINCE    THE    WORLD    BEGAN. 

This  evening  we  commence  a  course  of  lec- 
tures in  defence  of  the  Universal  Restoration 
and  Eternal  Happiness  of  all  Mankind,  and  of 
its  salutary  influence  on  the  hearts  and  lives  of 
the  followers  of  Christ,  as  a  doctrine  of  revela- 
tion. 

In  pursuing  this  subject  we  shall  observe  the 
following  plain  method: — 1.  State  the  ques- 
tion, and  its  importance;    2.  answer  some  of 

2 


10  QUESTION    STATED, 

the  most  weighty  objections  frequently  urged 
against  its  truth  and  moral  tendency  ;  and  3. 
exhibit  the  proofs  of  its  being  a  christian  senti- 
ment, and  worthy  of  all  acceptation. 

Though  in  departing  from  the  usual  and 
practical  method  of  preaching  observed  in  this 
desk,  we  shall  for  a  few  evenings  seem  to  buckle 
on  the  armour  of  the  controversialist,  it  is  not 
because  we  delight  in  controversy,  feel  happy 
in  its  troubled  atmosphere,  or  are  animated  by 
the  hope  of  gathering  laurels  of  victory  on  its 
disputed  heights  5  but  because  a  sense  of  duty 
has  compelled  us  to  publish  and  attempt  to 
vindicate  our  views  of  this  most  interesting 
subject,  and  thus  cast  our  mite  into  the  treasu- 
ry of  divine  truth  for  the  satisfaction  of  friends, 
the  honour  of  Christ,  and  the  advancement  of 
his  kingdom  in  the  world.  And  should  it  please 
God,  in  any  degree,  to  make  this  humble  effort 
the  instrument  of  accomplishing  these  objects, 
to  his  name  be  the  glory. 

Nor  do  we  come  to  this  work  with  the  least 
hostility  of  feeling  towards  any  denomination 
of  christians,  or  any  bitterness  of  spirit  to  those 
who  differ  from  us  ever  so  widely  in  their  reli- 
gious opinions  5  and,  therefore,  we  cheerfully 
pledge  ourselves  to  observe  the  most  scrupulous 
candour  in  relation  both  to  the  persons  and 
sentiments  of  all  whose  opinions  we  may  have 
occasion  to  mention.    Just  cause  of  the  slightest 


AND    ITS    IMPORTANCE.  11 

offence  shall  not  be  intentionally  given  to  any 
person  of  christian  feelings,  or  of  any  senti- 
ments whatever,  who  may  use  the  freedom  to 
attend  this  discussion ;  so  that  no  one  may  have 
occasion  to  fear  that  misrepresentation  of  his 
sentiments,  or  that  gross  personality  and  abuse 
which  have  too  often  degraded  Christianity  in 
the  eyes  of  its  enemies,  and  rendered  contro- 
versy disgusting;  when  otherwise  it  might  have 
been  a  powerful  and  successful  auxiliary  to  the 
triumph  and  spread  of  sacred  truth.  Desiring 
the  hearer  to  dismiss  from  his  mind  all  preju- 
dice for,  as  well  as  against,  the  doctrine  we  are 
about  to  advocate  in  these  lectures,  till  after  a 
patient  and  attentive  hearing,  (for  he  that  hears 
with  too  strong  a  prepossession  for,  or  against, 
hears  to  little  advantage,  and  can  never  be  an 
impartial  judge,)  we  assure  him  that  we  shall 
not  content  ourselves  by  being  merely  candid, 
but  shall  speak  under  a  deep  sense  of  responsi- 
bility to  the  God  of  truth,  for  the  correctness 
of  the  opinions  we  shall  offer :  and  let  him  that 
heareth  remember  also  his  own  high  obligations, 
so  to  hear  as  to  understand  and  judge  according 
to  truth. 

We  shall  regard  the  scriptures  as  the  only 
standard  of  revealed  truth,  and  studiously  seek 
their  direction  in  all  we  utter ;  and  while  we 
speak  according  to  the  words  of  holy  men  that 
spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost, 
let  all  the  people  say  amen. 


12  QUESTION     STATED, 

The  passage  of  inspiration  which  we  have 
placed  at  the  head  of  this  discourse,  asserts 
that  the  restitution  of  all  intelligent  and  fallen 
creatures  to  virtue,  order,  and  eternal  happi- 
ness, is  a  divine  truth,  purposed  by  Jehovah 
from  eternity,  and  published  more  or  less  clear- 
ly by  the  mouth  of  all  the  holy  prophets  since 
the  world  began  ;  and  that  times  or  dispensa- 
tions for  the  beginning  and  completion  of  this 
most  glorious  work,  have  been  set  in  the  coun- 
sels of  heaven  ;  and  also  that  the  ever  blessed 
Saviour,  who  had,  according  to  the  testimony 
of  prophets  and  the  preaching  of  apostles,  began 
it  by  his  ministry,  death,  resurrection,  and 
ascension  to  heaven,  would,  at  the  completion 
of  those  times,  be  again  sent  from  thence  to 
finish  this  most  transcendent  enterprise,  which 
will  forever  remain  the  theme  of  admiration  to 
saints  and  angels,  and  of  glory  to  God  and  the 
Lamb. 

But  before  we  proceed  to  reduce  these  sen- 
timents to  a  single  question,  we  ask  leave  here 
to  make  a  more  general  statement  of  what  we 
conceive  to  be  some  of  the  first  or  fundamental 
principles  of  revelation ;  that  the  bearing  of  the 
question  on  those  principles,  may  be  the  more 
easily  seen  and  felt.     They  are  these: 

1.  The  moral  government  of  God  is  a  most 
perfect  plan,  called  in  scripture  his  counsel, 
will,  purpose,  pleasure ;  according  to  which  he 
works  all  things  in  the  dispensations  of  revela- 


AND    ITS     IMPORTANCE.  U 

tion,  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  noblest  of 
objects,  i.  e.  the  greatest  good  of  the  universe  5 
in  relation  to  which,  he  is  said  to  see  the  end 
from  the  beginning. 

2.  All  moral  and  accountable  beings  were 
created  and  destined  to  serve  and  enjoy  God 
forever,  as  their  chief  good;  for  God  is  love, 
and  the  Lord  is  good  to  all. 

3.  Though  all  men  were  created  holy,  and 
for  perfect  happiness,  yet  they  all  having  sinned 
and  come  short  of  glory  no  one  can  now  be  saved 
but  by  being  restored  to  virtue  5  for  without 
holiness  no  man  can  enjoy   God  or  heaven. 

4.  Therefore  God  being  no  respecter  of  per- 
sons, sent  his  Son  to  be  the  Saviour  of  the 
world. 

5.  Death  having  reigned  from  Adam  to  the 
coming  of  Christ,  therefore,  that  he  (Christ) 
might  be  the  Saviour  of  all,  dominion  was  given 
him  over  the  dead  in  their  separate  state,  as 
well  as  over  the  living  in  this  and  the  resurrec- 
tion state  5  for  he  is  declared  to  be  Lord,  and 
Judge,  and  Saviour,  of  the  dead  and  living  ;  so 
that  all  will  be  judged,  and  all  will  be  saved 
during  the  reign  of  the  Messiah. 

6.  The  gospel  is  the  only  method  of  salva- 
tion for  sinners  ;  for  by  grace  are  ye  saved, 
through  Jesus  Christ,  the  only  name  given 
whereby  we  must  be  saved. 

7.  Death,  therefore,  being  physical  and  per- 


14  QUESTION    STATED, 

taining  to  the  body,  can  make  no  moral  change 
in  man  5  for  whether  we  live  or  die,  we  are  the 
Lord's,  to  be  rewarded  if  faithful,  to  be  pun- 
ished if  impenitent,  being  under  the  same  Lord, 
and  subject  to  the  same  moral  laws  after  as 
before  death. 

8.  So  long  as  men  continue  in  sin,  or  impen- 
itency,  so  long  they  will  continue  to  be  punish- 
ed according  to  their  characters,  as  attested  by 
their  works ;  but  when  they  exercise  repen- 
tance toward  God,  he  will,  through  the  blood 
of  Christ,  grant  them  the  remission  of  the  sins 
that  are  past,  and  justify  and  save  them  by 
faith  in  Jesus. 

9.  The  means  employed  by  Christ  for  the 
salvation  of  the  world,  i.  e.  faith  and  repen- 
tance, must  finally  and  universally  succeed,  for 
the  pleasure  of  the  Lord  shall  prosper  in  his 
hand  5  and  he  must  reign  till  he  hath  put  all 
enemies  under  his  feet. 

10.  The  subjection  of  all  things  to  Christ 
will  be  the  same,  in  character  and  spirit,  as 
will  be  the  subjection  of  Christ  to  the  Father 
in  conjunction  with  his  kingdom ;  therefore, 
when  he  resigns  his  kingdom,  it  will  be  per- 
fect in  its  extent,  and  in  the  character  of  its 
subjects  :   and  thus  God  will  be  all  in  all. 

Now  by  adopting  these  principles  in  connex- 
ion with  the  text,  which  appears  to  be  support- 
ed most  clearly  by  the  general  voice  of  scrip- 


AND    ITS     IMPORTANCE.  15 

ture,  we  inevitably  come  to  the  conclusion  of 
the  universal  restoration  of  all  mankind  to  vir- 
tue and  purity ;  and  believing  in  the  universal 
restoration,  we  necessarily  arrive  at  the  result 
of  universal  and  eternal  happiness,  which  is 
universal  salvation. — None  will  be  saved  who 
are  not  first  restored ;  and  none  that  are  or 
shall  be  restored  will  fail  of  salvation. 

The  text  speaks  of  this  great  work  as  having 
times,  i.  e.  periods  or  dispensations,  set  for 
its  progress  and  completion;  and  elsewhere, 
the  scriptures  speak  of  its  being  finished  in  the 
fulness  of  times :  so  that  we  have  no  scrip- 
tural authority  for  supposing  it  will  be  perform- 
ed for  all  men,  individually  or  collectively,  at 
death,  or  any  specified  time,  short  of  the  ful- 
ness of  times. 

The  question,  therefore,  which  we  are  now  to 
discuss,  is  not  whether  any  or  all  will  be  saved 
without  genuine  faith  in  Jesus  Christ — wheth- 
er any  or  all  will  be  made  happy  without  first 
being  brought  to  feel  a  sincere  and  godly  sor- 
row for  sin,  and  an  ardent  thirst  for  holiness  ? 
This  we  have  no  reason  to  believe  or  expect. 

Nor  are  we  here  to  discuss  the  question 
whether  all  men,  christian  or  pagan,  saint  or 
sinner,  penitent  or  impenitent,  will  escape  all 
guilt,  remorse,  and  mental  suffering  for  sin,  in 
or  at  the  article  of  temporal  death,  and  be  for- 
ever after  equally  and  eternally  happy  ?  Neith- 


H>  QUESTION    STATED, 

er  reason  nor  scripture,  justice  nor  equal  mer- 
cy, offer  us  the  least  grounds  for  believing  they 
will. 

But  this  is  the  all  important  question,  we 
ask  you  to  consider  and  be  able  to  answer, 
viz: — Whether  all  men  will  or  will  not,  by  the 
means  of  grace  and  the  power  of  God,  be 
brought  to  be  true  christians  ?  Or  in  other 
words,  Will  all  men,  according  to  the  scriptures, 
and  consistently  with  the  attributes,  will,  and 
government  of  God,  be  finally  made  pure  and 
happy  through  Jesus  Christ,  or  not  ? 

Some  we  know  think,  or  say  they  think,  this 
to  be  a  question  of  mere  idle  curiosity,  while 
others  esteem  it  an  impious  question  which 
ought  never  to  be  started,  especially  in  public ; 
but  from  both  these  classes  of  Christians,  we 
are,  after  serious  deliberation,  compelled  re- 
spectfully, but  widely,  to  differ. 

Such,  my  brethren,  is  the  importance  of  this 
subject,  and  such  the  deep  and  everlasting  in- 
terest which  we  and  the  world  have  in  its  de- 
cision, that  it  becomes  us  reverently  to  pause — 
and  seriously  to  consider,  that  if  we  may  truly 
answer  it  in  the  affirmative,  relative  ourselves, 
it  will  present  to  our  encouragement  in  duty, 
our  comfort  in  affliction,  and  our  hope  in  death, 
heaven — all  that  can  constitute  us  happy. — 
But  if  we  are  compelled  to  answer  it  in  the 
negative — O    then  !    how    will   the   scene   be 


AND    ITS    IMPORTANCE.  17 

changed  !  to  paralize  the  last  resolve  to  virtue, 
to  cast  off  the  last  hope  of  affliction,  and  to  add 
eternal  despair  to  the  pains  and  anguish  of 
death,  there  will  be  presented  to  the  soul  the 
horrors  of  the  worm  that  never  dies !  and 
the  storm  of  vengeance  that  never  ceases  to 
rage  ! — On  one  side  of  this  question  is  all  that 
hope,  and  heaven,  and  eternity,  can  offer  to  our 
enjoyment  5  and  on  the  other,  all  that  fear,  de- 
spair, and  ever- enduring  and  ever-increasing 
wo  can  inflict.  Equally  so  is  it  with  every 
friend  of  ours,  and  with  every  individual  of  the 
human  race ;  if  therefore  any  one  of  the  vast 
family  of  man  be  eternally  lost,  it  must  not  on- 
ly be  the  friend,  parent,  child,  endeared  to 
others  by  the  ties  of  nature  and  mutual  feelings, 
but  it  must  be  some  one  himself,  to  whom  hap- 
piness is  as  dear  as  to  ourselves — and  whose 
aversion  to  sufferings  is  equal  to  our  own. 
This  thought  should  certainly  cause  us  to  take 
and  feel  a  high  interest  in  the  true  answer  to  the 
question,  whether  all  will  be  finally  virtuous 
and  happy,  or  not,  as  well  as  whether  we  our- 
selves shall  be  saved  or  not.  Yet  in  the  exam- 
ination of  this  question,  let  us  endeavour  to  lay 
apart  all  selfish  interest  which  we  have  in  its 
answer,  while  we  further  examine,  not  only  its 
general  importance,  its  importance  in  connexion 
with  the  character  of  God,  of  Christ,  of  the 
Scriptures,    and    of    the   morality,   comforts, 


18  QUESTION    STATED, 

hopes,  and  devotion  of  mankind  5  but  also  the 
evidences  and  arguments  for  and  against  it :  that 
if  possible  we  may  decide  it  impartially,  accord- 
ing to  the  force  of  truth  and  evidence.  The 
affirmative  of  this  subject,  sheds  a  peculiar  lus- 
tre on  the  character  of  Deity. — It  represents 
him  as  having  wonderfully  and  fearfully  created 
and  made  of  one  blood,  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth,  for  the  noblest  object,  as  having  extended 
over  them  a  father's  tender  and  watchful  care, 
and  when  they  erred  as  children  and  became  the 
miserable  slaves  of  sin  and  death,  he  mercifully 
projected  the  scheme  of  redemption,  which  his 
grace  and  power  shall,  in  due  time,  carry  into 
the  most  complete  execution.  What  can  so 
much  endear  his  government  to  his  rational 
creatures,  as  for  them  to  feel  it  is  founded  in  in- 
finite goodness,  and  administered  for  the  eternal 
and  equal  happiness  of  all  its  subjects  ?  What 
could  so  much  endear  him  to  them,  as  for  them 
to  know  that  he  is  love,  and  that  all  his  ad- 
ministrations are  equal  and  perfect  goodness, 
resulting  finally  in  their  equal  and  everlasting 
welfare  ?  Every  man  should  be  taught  that 
God  is  the  all-gracious  author  of  his  being,  the 
wise  disposer  of  his  fortune,  and  the  unchanging 
friend  of  his  happiness  5  and  of  the  peace  and 
happiness  of  all  others,  no  less  than  of  their 
own ;  then  will  they  seek  his  protection,  and 
delight  in  his  service  5  then  will  they  be  desirous 


AND    ITS     IMPORTANCE.  19 

of  imitating  him,  whom  they  are  constrained 
equally  to  love  and  reverence  for  his  goodness 
and  greatness. 

Nor  is  this  sentiment  less  important  to  the 
character  of  Christ ;  it  teaches  that  he  came 
from  heaven  to  be  the  compassionate  friend  and 
the  all-sufficient  Saviour  of  sinners,  yea  of  a 
whole  sinful  and  lost  world — it  teaches  that  he 
was  impartial  in  his  kindness,  in  his  sympathy, 
and  in  his  sufferings,  having  tasted  death  equally 
for  every  creature.  So  benignant  was  his 
whole  ministry  on  earth,  that  no  sinner 
could  ever  say  he  has  neglected  to  warn  me  of 
the  evil  of  sin  on  every  proper  occasion  5  that  he 
ever  neglected  to  sympathize  in  my  sufferings, 
not  only,  but  to  relieve  them  by  deeds  of  mercy 
and  power  such  as  man  never  did :  or  that  he 
ever  ceased  by  his  words  to  pour  the  light  of 
heaven  on  my  benighted  mind,  or  by  the  ener- 
gies of  his  spirit,  to  wake  up  in  my  soul  the  emo- 
tions of  peaceful  gratitude,  and  to  enliven  and 
strengthen  the  latent  and  trembling  hopes  of 
heaven  in  my  heart,  whenever  I  sought  him. 
So  just,  and  good,  and  gracious  was  Jesus  to 
all,  that  there  is  no  one  who  has  not  occasion  to 
say  of  him,  he  is  the  chiefest  among  ten  thou- 
sand, and  altogether  lovely.  How  different- 
ly would  the  character  of  our  Lord  have  appear- 
ed had  he  come  to  call  the  righteous,  but  leave 
the  sinner  to  perish — had  he  come  to  bless  the 


20  QUESTION    STATED, 

rich,  but  leave  the  poor  to  their  destruction,  or 
had  he  come  to  save  the  poor,  but  leave  the  rich 
to  pass  on  the  high  way  to  eternal  ruin  !  Cer- 
tainly it  must  be  for  the  honour  of  Christ  that 
those  whose  duty  and  office  it  is  to  invite  and 
persuade  all  men  to  come  unto  him  and  be  saved, 
should  feel  authorized  to  say,  unhesitatingly  to 
say,  to  every  and  each  of  them,  Jesus  is  really, 
and  will  prove  himself  to  be  your  Saviour  and 
Judge. 

If  it  be  found  that  the  holy  scriptures  con- 
tain a  clear  expression  of  the  restitution  of  all 
things,  attested  by  the  united  witness  of  all  the 
holy  prophets,  and  confirmed  by  the  authority 
of  Jehovah,  it  must  greatly  enhance  the  value 
of  that  sacred  book  in  the  estimation  of  every 
truly  benevolent  soul,  and  offer  an  increased 
motive  to  every  man  to  become  thoroughly  ac- 
quainted with  the  rich  treasures  it  contains. 
It  does,  or  does  not  contain  a  revelation  of  sal- 
vation for  the  whole  world,  and  equally  true  is  it 
that  it  does,  or  does  not  contain  salvation  for  me 
or  you, and  of  the  way  by  which  we  are  to  attain 
its  possession ;  for  if  it  may  not  contain  salvation 
for  all,  then  it  may  not  contain  it  forme  or  you. 
Then  suppose  we  turn  over  its  inspired  pages, 
believing  that  they  contain  the  awful  record  of 
eternal  death  for  some  the  human  race,  and  of 
course  feeling  that  we  are  liable  to  meet  there- 
in our  own  doom  to  never  ending   perdition, 


AND    ITS    IMPORTANCE.  21 

what,  ask  yourselves,  what  would  be  the  anxie- 
ty and  fearful  suspense  with  which  we  should 
read  ?   Could  we  read  it  with  the  same  ear- 
nestness and  hope,  the  same  interest  and  love 
that  we  should  do  if  we  felt  assured  that  as  soon 
as  we  become  truly   acquainted  with  it,   and 
felt  the  power  and  virtue  of  its  heavenly  truths, 
we  should  be  blessed  and  made  wise  unto  salva- 
tion ?   Would  any  one  dig  in  a  field  for  a  trea- 
sure with  as  much  faithfulness  and  perseverance 
upon  uncertainty,  as  he  would  with  the  assur- 
ance, that  by  so  doing,  he  should  gain  an  inval- 
uable treasure  of  wealth  and  happiness  ?   Most 
certainly  he  could  not.     The  bible  will  never 
be  perused  by  all  men,  old  and  young,  rich  and 
poor,  as  it  should  be,  and  with  the  interest  and 
feelings  it  ought,  till  they  are  invited  thereto 
with  affectionate  concern  by  the  ministers  of  the 
cross,  and  urged  by  the  plenary  assurance  that 
they  will  find   there  that  heavenly  wisdom  to 
guide  them  in  duty,  that  rich  solace  in  afflic- 
tion   and  that  blessed    hope  of  immortality, 
which  can  no   where  else  be  found — those  re- 
wards for  virtue,  and  those  faithful  warnings  of 
evil  5  that  blessed  panoply  of  light,  and  holy 
armour  of  God  ;  and  those  testimonies  of  Jesus, 
and  life  giving  words  of  Jehovah,  which  open 
to  the  soul  beyond  the  dispensations  of  time  ; 
the  finished    work  of  grace,   the    glories   and 
joys  of  a  paradise  above,   for  themselves  and 


22 


QUESTION    STATED, 


the  world,  no  where  else  to  be  obtained  but  in 
this  holy  treasury  of  the  Lord.  When  these 
views  of  the  scriptures  prevail,  then  will  the 
books  of  infidelity  be  given  up,  the  bible  be 
read  with  the  the  purest  delight,  and  the  words 
of  the  Lord  be  sweet  as  in  the  days  when 
Jesus  spake,  and  they  that  heard  were  healed. 
But  after  all  the  sentiment  under  considera- 
tion is  more  immediately  interesting  to  man  as 
a  moral,  social,  and  devotional  being.  We 
cannot  resist  the  persuasion  that  a  morality 
founded  on  the  principles  above  laid  down, 
would  be  most  pure  and  exalted ;  and  there- 
fore, most  condusive  to  human  happiness.  The 
basis  of  morality,  such  as  Jesus  taught,  is 
supreme  love  to  God,  and  true  benevolence  to 
man  5  and  the  fruits  thereof  in  the  conduct  of 
life,  is  the  morality  itself.  Now  as  like  produ- 
ces like,  will  it  not  induce  us  to  love  God  to 
know  that  he  is  good  to  us  ;  and  strengthen  that 
love,  to  know  that  he  is  equally  good  to  all  as 
to  us  ?  And  will  it  not  also  naturally  produce 
in  us  a  regard  to  the  welfare  of  mankind  to 
feel  that  they  are  all  our  brethren  ;  responsible 
to  the  same  moral  government ;  bound  to  per- 
form to  us  the  same  duties  that  we  are  to  them  ; 
and  with  us  destined  to  dwell  forever  in  the 
blessed  associations  of  celestial  virtue  and  hap- 
piness ?  The  very  fact  that  God  will  ultimate- 
ly deliver  all  from  sin  and  suffering,  proves  that 


AND    ITS    IMPORTANCE.  23 

he  will  not  allow  us,  with  impunity,  to  inflict 
on  any  creature  of  his,  through  revenge  or 
malevolence,  the  least  degree  of  unjust  or  un- 
merciful sufferings  ;  and  is  thus  happily  adapt- 
ed to  restrain  the  vicious  propensities  of  the 
sinful  heart. 

What  then  tends  so  naturally  to  awaken  the 
best  feelings  of  our  nature,  both  towards  God 
and  man,  and  to  restrain  the  bad  propensities  of 
the  soul,  must  as  it  prevails,  exert  a  commanding 
and  heavenly  influence  on  the  moral  intercourse 
of  the  world,  till  society  on  earth  shall  resem- 
ble the  blessed  society  of  heaven.  But  we 
know,  and  are  sorry  for  it,  that  it  is  by  many, 
whom  we  respect  for  their  piety  and  virtue, 
strenuously  objected  to  this  sentiment,  that 
were  it  to  prevail  it  would  have  an  intirely  dif- 
ferent effect  on  the  moral  feelings  and  conduct 
of  men  ;  which  will  be  considered,  and  an  an- 
swer attempted,  in  its  proper  place.  And  in 
the  interim,  should  any  of  you,  my  hearers, 
wish  to  try  the  case  for  your  own  personal  satis- 
faction, you  may  for  the  sake  of  such  trial, 
suppose  society  to  be  divided  into  two  great 
classes,  one  of  whom  you  know  will  be  con- 
verted to  Christ  and  reign  with  him  forever ; 
the  other  will  forever  revile  him  and  sink  to 
endless  perdition  }  then  ask  yourselves  if  you 
could  as  sincerely  sympathize  in  the  present 
sufferings  of  one  as  of  the  other  of  those  clas- 


24  QUESTION    STATED, 

ses,  extend  the  hand  of  relief  as  warmly  to  the 
one  as  the  other,  and  feel  as  sacred  obligations 
to  seek  the  perpetual  good  of  the  one  as  of  the 
other  ?  And  thus  we  are  assured  you  will  be 
able  to  decide  for  yourselves  the  relative  influ- 
ence of  the  two  schemes,  viz.  partial  and  uni- 
versal restoration  5  and  give  the  decided  prefer- 
ence to  the  one  under  consideration. 

That  this  doctrine  possesses  a  peculiar  pow- 
er when  cordially  embraced  by  a  strong  faith, 
to  "  smooth  the  rugged  path  to  life  along  a  vale 
of  tears,"  solace  the  mourner's  heart  when  riven 
by  the  loss  of  its  dearest  earthly  joys,  and  to 
cheer  and  strengthen  the  departing  trembling 
soul,  with  the  all-sustaining  hopes  of  heaven, 
will  not,  cannot  be  doubted.  O  my  God  !  let 
us  have  its  aid  in  misfortune's  gloomy  hour ; 
when  bending  over  the  sick,  or  waiting  at  the 
dying  couch  of  kindred  or  of  friends ;  then 
may  its  balmy  spirit  gently  bedew  us ;  but 
most  of  all  when  wearied  and  exhausted  by 
sickness,  we  are  called  to  tread  the  dark  and 
gloomy  valley,  O  then  may  its  heavenly  light 
shine  about  us,  and  drive  from  before  us  the 
soul-chilling  gloom  of  death  ! 

And  lastly,  strange  as  it  may  appear  to  some, 
we  are  constrained  to  view  it  of  the  highest 
importance  to  the  exercise  of  true  and  elevat- 
ed devotion.  This  is  by  far  the  most  difficult 
of  all  christian  duties  to  perform  5  so  imperfect 


AND    ITS    IMPORTANCE.  25 

are  our  views  of  our  heavenly  Father,  so  mis- 
taken our  apprehensions  of  happiness,  and  so 
selfish  and  alienated  are  our  feelings  to  our  fel- 
low creatures  by  reason  of  sin,  that  we  need 
much  grace  to  aid  us  in  giving  ourselves  whol- 
ly to  the  service  of  God,  in  the  obedience  of 
his  word,  and  the  cheerful  and  hearty  perform- 
ance of  all  that  various  good  we  are  capable  of 
doing  to  our  fellow  men,  not  only  to  the  good 
but  the  evil,  and  all  for  the  Lord's  sake. — Fear 
and  dread  of  misery,  here  or  hereafter,  unas- 
sisted, can  never  produce  it ;  with  these,  if  they 
exist,  must  be  united  the  truth  that  enlightens 
and  the  grace  that  saves  the  soul  from  sin. 
What  therefore  can  so  effectually  assist  us  in 
this  pure  and  heavenly  exercise  as  a  belief  that 
God  in  his  infinite  mercy  is  in  Christ,  and  will 
fully  reconcile  all  things  to  himself  in  perfect 
bliss  ?  We  solemnly  appeal  to  the  believer  in 
endless  punishment,  whether  it  be  possible  for 
him  to  feel  as  much  devotion  of  heart  when  he 
prays  for  a  sinner,  feeling  at  the  same  time  that 
that  sinner  will  certainly  go  to  perdition,  as  he 
does  when  he  prays  for  one  that  he  feels  and 
hopes  will  be  converted  and  made  happy  !  Let 
us  now  conclude  this  lecture  by  placing  before 
us  for  our  imitation  in  spirit  at  least,  the  bright- 
est example  of  devotion  ever  witnessed  by  or 
given  to  men — that  exhibited  by  our  Saviour 
at  his  death.     A  life  of  perfect  virtue  finished, 

4 


26  QUESTION    STATED, 

he  presents  himself  an  offering  to  God — in  view 
of  the  awful  sufferings  of  the  cross — says,  not 
my  will  but  thine  be  done — and  as  the  crimson, 
cleansing,  pardoning  tide  flowed  from  his 
hands,  his  feet^  his  temples,  his  side,  his  heart, 
in  a  love  to  his  bitterest  enemies  stronger  than 
death,  he  said  with  his  expiring  breath,  father 
forgive,  my  death  will  conquer,  and  the  vilest 
shall  yet  love  thee. 

Before  we  advance  the  proofs  of  this  doctrine 
to  which  we  do  sincerely  attach  such  high  im- 
portance, we  shall  out  of  respect  to  its  opposers, 
notice  and  answer  a  few  important  objections. 
First,  Some  object  to  the  truth  of  this  senti- 
ment, because  they  think  God  has  limited  sal- 
vation by  his  decree — which  presupposes  eter- 
nal personal  election  and  reprobation. — On  this 
subject  we  shall  treat  the  next  evening. 


LECTURE  II. 


OBJECTION    I 


ROMANS  XI.  5. 

EVEN    SO     THEN,    AT    THIS     PRESENT    TIME     ALSO,    THERE     19     A 
REMNANT    ACCORDING     TO    THE    ELECTION    OF    GRACE. 

According  to  the  proposal  made  the  last 
evening,  we  are  now  assembled  to  consider  the 
doctrine  of  election  as  the  first,  and  by  many 
supposed  to  be  the  most  valid  objection  against 
the  scheme  of  final  and  universal  salvation. 
All  must  admit  that  if  salvation  be  limited  in 
its  design,  it  must  be  so  by  the  decree  of  God  ; 
and  that  decree  is  by  the  objector  called  elec- 
tion. The  bible,  we  cheerfully  admit,  contains 
the  doctrine  of  election ;  but  not  that  view  of 
it  entertained  by  those  who  make  it  an  objec- 


28  OBJECTION    1. 

tion  to  our  sentiments.  We  shall,  therefore,  for 
the  sake  of  method,  state  the  view  and  grounds 
of  the  objection,  with  our  reasons  for  not  ad- 
mitting them  scriptural  5  and  then  give  what 
we  understand  to  be  the  bible  view  of  election, 
by  which  it  will  appear  that  it  favours  rather 
than  opposes  the  affirmative  of  the  great  ques- 
tion at  issue. 

Preparatory  to  that  statement,  let  it  be  ob- 
served, that  election  in  whatever  view  we  con- 
sider it,  must  be  the  unconstrained  and  free  act 
of  that  great  and  good  Being,  whose  perfections 
are  infinite,  and  whose  attributes  extend  equal- 
ly to  all  creatures  of  the  universe  5  and  who 
being  the  perfect  Father  of  the  spirits  of  all 
flesh,  and  by  the  current  voice  of  revelation 
and  Providence,  declared  to  be  good  and  merci- 
ful to  all  his  works,  can  be  no  respector  of  per- 
sons, nor  have  the  least  arbitrary  and  original 
preference  for  the  happiness  of  one,  or  one  part 
of  his  creatures  over  the  others. 

Further  be  it  remembered,  that  when  God 
created  man,  he  created  him  upright  and  holy, 
and  pronounced  him  good  5  at  which  time  he 
must  have  loved  him,  and  designed  his  happi- 
ness. Though  the  crown  has  fallen  from  the 
head  of  him  that  was  thus  created  in  honour, 
the  gold  become  dim,  and  the  most  fine  gold 
changed,  and  man  without  exception  become 


OBJECTION    I. 


M 


subject  to  vanity,  sin,  and  death,  yet  God  has 
not  changed. 

And  it  is  certain  that  if  any  are  made  truly 
happy,  they  must  first,  and  that  by  their  Maker, 
be  restored  to  the  spiritual,  practical,  and  habit- 
ual purity  in  which  they  were  at  first  created. 

Now  under  these  circumstances,  God  being 
unchangeably  good,  and  mankind  equally  sin- 
ners and  equally  unable  to  reinstate  themselves, 
under  these  circumstances  we  ask,  would  it  be 
reasonable  for  us  to  suppose  that  the  Deity  in  the 
exercise  of  his  favour  for  the  recovery  of  lost  men, 
would  select  some,  and  pass  by  and  leave  others 
to  perish  forever  ?  We  appeal  to  you  that  are 
parents,  could  you  so  do  among  your  own 
children  in  a  similar  case  ?  Nay,  more,  we  ap- 
peal to  you,  if  any  such  there  are  here,  and  we 
doubt  there  are  many,  who  have  felt  the  pow- 
er of  divine  grace  kindling  up  in  your  souls 
the  feelings  of  benevolence  and  concern  for  the 
eternal  welfare  of  all  mankind,  such  in  some 
degree  as  the  blessed  Saviour  felt  when  he 
left  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  and  that  which 
animated  the  holy  apostles  when  they  left 
wives  and  children,  through  persecution  and 
death  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  world — would 
it  be  possible  for  you  under  the  influence  of 
the  same  spirit,  to  place  before  you  the  world 
of  sinners,  and   then  deliberately   select  those 


30  OBJECTION     I. 

you  would  have  redeemed  to  the  exclusion  of 
the  rest  ? 

Having  brought  the  mind  of  the  attentive 
hearer  to  feel  the  decision  to  which  reason  and 
christian  feelings  would  lead  iis  were  we  allow- 
ed to  follow  them,  we  shall  now  seek  the  ad- 
vice of  the  standard  of  truth,  to  which  after  all, 
we  must  all  appeal,  to  the  scriptures. 

In  doing  which,  we  shall,  as  already  proposed, 
state  the  objection  in  its  clearest  light,  that  we 
may  the  better  judge  its  true  character. 

The  doctrine  of  election,  as  understood  by 
those  who  urge  it  as  an  objection  to  universal 
salvation,  is  this,  viz: — The  decree  of  God  by 
which  from  all  eternity  he  determined  of  his 
own  good  pleasure  to  select  some  of  all  nations 
for  eternal  glory,  and  appointed  and  made  irre- 
sistably  efficacious  all  the  means  of  grace  to 
effect  that  end,  without  the  least  reference  to 
works  done,  or  to  be  done,  which  necessarily 
implies  the  endless  perdition  of  all  the  rest,  and 
the  certain  inefficiency  of  all  means  apparently 
used  for  their  salvation — in  a  word  that  God 
created  some  to  be  unconditionally,  certainly, 
and  endlessly  happy,  and  the  residue  of  man- 
kind to  be  unconditionally,  certainly,  and  end- 
lessly miserable  ?  This  doctrine  has  been  sup- 
ported by  St.  Augustine  and  some  others 
among  the  fathers,  and  strongly  advocated  by 
Calvin  in  that  article  of  his  institutes,  Henry, 


OBJECTION    I.  31 

Doddridge,  the  assembly  of  Divines  at  West- 
minster, and  most  of  their  followers  in  all  ages 
down  to  the  Orthodox  of  the  present  day. 
Some  difference  in  modes  of  expressing  it,  and 
some  variation  in  the  manner  of  defending  it 
have  obtained,  but  the  spirit,  substance,  and 
effect  to  be  ultimately  produced  by  it  has  been 
and  is  the  same — nor  do  we  see  that  it  is  at  all 
possible  substantially  to  alter  it,  without  di- 
rectly or  indirectly  rejecting  its  truth. 

The  leading  points  in  this  view  are  these : 
1.  The  object  of  election  is  eternal  and  always 
the  same,  though  expressed  by  different  terms 
in  scripture,  such  as  elect,  choose,  appoint,  or- 
dain, will,  &/C.  i.  e.  those  who  are  elected  or 
chosen  are  not  elected  to  any  office,  tempo- 
rary good,  or  national  distinction,  but  to  eter- 
nal glory.  2.  To  this  act  of  favour  God  was 
wholly  self-moved,  having  no  reference  to  the 
natural  or  moral  qualities  of  the  persons  elect- 
ed. 3.  The  result  of  this  election  is  in  all  ca- 
ses certain,  unconditional,  and  in  no  possible 
way,  liable  to  be  contingent  in  regard  to  any 
one  individual  of  all  the  elect.  4.  It  necessa- 
rily includes  by  implication  the  everlasting  and 
certain  doom  of  all  the  non-elect  to  unceasing 
and  inconceivable  sufferings  in  eternity.  The 
last  of  these  points,  however,  more  particularly 
distinguishes  the  adherents  of  this  doctrine  from 
all  other  religionists. 


32  OBJECTION    I. 

Much  as  we  are  opposed  in  sentiment  to  this 
doctrine,  we  deem  it  hut  fair  to  acknowledge  the 
slanderous  saying,  which  has  been  often  repeat- 
ed, viz: — that  it  admits  men  to  heaven  without 
reference  to  personal  holiness,  is  a  mistake; 
for  though  God  elected  them  without  regard  to 
their  personal  holiness  or  sinfulness,  yet  he 
does  not,  and  will  not  admit  them  to  heaven 
without  their  being  first  made  perfectly  and  per- 
sonally holy  ;  and  that  by  the  means  of  grace 
provided  in  the  gospel,  and  provided  for  all 
equally :  yet  it  is  equally  just  to  remark  that 
though  the  means  of  grace  are  general,  they  are 
not  designed,  and  therefore,  cannot  in  a  single 
instance,  prove  effectual  to  salvation,  save  in  the 
cases  of  the  elect  where  they  are  certain  to  be 
so. 

In  support  of  this  doctrine  there  has  been 
much  subtile  and  metaphysical  reasoning  of 
talented  school  men  employed ;  but  we  shall 
here  only  notice  a  few  of  the  prominent  passa- 
ges of  scripture,  which  have  been  mostly  relied 
on  for  its  authority. 

Our  text  declares  "  there  is  a  remnant  ac- 
cording to  the  election  of  grace" — and  verse 
7th,  "the  election  hath  obtained  it."  Rom. 
9.  11,  12,  13.— St.  Paul  says,  "the  children 
not  being  yet  born,  neither  having  done  any 
good  or  evil,  that  the  purpose  of  God,  accord- 
ing to  election,  might  stand,  not  of  works  but 


OBJECTION     I.  53 

of  him  that  calleth.  It  was  said  unto  her,  the 
elder  shall  serve  the  younger.  As  it  is  written, 
"Jacob  have  I  loved,  but  Esau  have  I  hated." 
Also,  the  same  author  writing  to  the  Ephesians 
says,  i.  4,  5. — "  According  as  he  hath  chosen 
us  in  him,  before  the  foundation  of  the  world, 
that  we  should  be  holy,  and  without  blame  be- 
fore him  in  love :  having  predestinated  us  unto 
the  adoption  of  children  by  Jesus  Christ  to  him- 
self, according  to  the  good  pleasure  of  his 
will."  And  again,  2d  Thes.  ii.  13.—"  But  we 
are  bound  to  give  thanks  always  to  God  for  you, 
brethren,  beloved  of  the  Lord,  because  God 
hath  from  the  beginning  chosen  you  to  salva- 
tion, through  sanctification  of  the  spirit,  and  be- 
lief of  the  truth." 

From  these  portions  of  the  oracles  of  God, 
the  advocates  of  eternal,  personal  election,  and 
reprobation,  appear  to  think  the  following  con- 
clusions irresistable :  1.  Those  who  are  to  be  ad- 
mitted to  heaven  are  a  remnant.  2.  They  were 
from  eternity  selected  and  chosen  from  the  rest 
of  mankind.  3.  That  God  loved  the  elect,  and 
hated  the  non-elect  from  the  beginning,  as  it 
appears  plainly  in  the  case  of  Jacob  and  Esau. 
4.  Therefore  he  chose  the  elect  because  he  free- 
ly and  eternally  loved  them,  and  left  or  reprobat- 
ed the  rest  of  the  human  race  because  he  freely 
and  eternally  hated  them,  or  disapproved  of 
their  salvation,  and  not  at  all  on   account  of 


34  vfijU'CTio:*   i. 

any  works,  good  or  evil  5  for  neither  party  had 
done  good  or  evil  at  the  time  of  their  ejection. 
And  5.  That  the  way  by  which  he  determined 
to  save  those  he  predestinated  to  glory,  was  by 
sanctification  of  the  spirit,  and  the  belief  of  the 
truth  :  all  which  was  designed  and  will  termi- 
nate for  the  glory  of  his  infinite  and  free  grace 
in  Jesus  Christ ;  and  therefore,  the  only  hope  of 
salvation  is  founded  on  election. 

Having  stated  the  argument  in  favour  of  this 
view  of  election  in  its  clearest  and  strongest 
light,  we  ask  what  objection  is  there  to  this  in- 
terpretation ?  To  which  we  answer,  it  does 
not  give  the  true  and  most  obvious  sense  of  the 
passages  it  professes  to  interpret.  I .  The  rem- 
nant preserved  from  idolatry  in  the  days  of  Eli- 
jah, were  not  appointed  exclusively  of  all  others 
at  that  time,  to  have  their  names  written  in 
heaven ;  but  they  were  reserved  in  mercy  to 
that  rebellious  people,  as  seed  in  the  midst  of 
them,  though  hid  even  from  the  eyes  of  the 
prophet,  which  should  germinate  and  produce 
among  them  a  harvest  of  true  worshippers,  to 
the  living  God. 

Also,  the  remnant  left  to  that  same  people  in 
the  apostle's  day,  which  Jesus  says  prevented 
their  being  entirely  cut  offlike  Sodom  and  Go- 
morrah, were  so  far  from  being  appointed  to 
the  exclusive  blessings  of  Christianity,  that  they 
were,  in  God's  endless  kindness  to  the  world, 


OBJECTION     I.  35 

reserved  a  faithful  seed  of  Christ,  from  whom 
the  word  of  the  Lord  should  sound  out,  and  by 
whom  the  true  religion  should  be  spread 
through  the  earth,  till  the  fulness  of  the  Gentiles 
should  come  to  its  obedience,  and  all  Israel  be 
6aved.  This  is  St.  Paul's  conclusion  on  this 
very  subject  of  the  remnant  in  his  11th  Chap,  to 
the  Romans.  2.  Being  chosen  in  Christ,  and 
made  heirs  of  glory,  carries  not  the  idea  of  the 
eternal  exclusion  of  all  but  themselves  from  sal- 
vation, but  from  the  nature  of  the  case  implies 
the  extension  of  the  same  choice  to  all  others, 
which  would  appear  on  their  conversion,  as  it 
had  already  appeared  in  the  conversion  of  the 
christians  at  Ephesus  and  Thessalonia.  3. 
The  love  and  hatred  mentioned  in  the  case  of 
Jacob  and  Esau,  to  say  nothing  of  the  harsh- 
ness of  the  rendering,  are  not  to  be  understood  as 
positive  but  comparitive  love  and  hatred,  i.  e. 
love  to  both,  but  a  greater  degree  of  it  to  one 
than  the  other,  or  a  preference  among  friends, 
for  instance,  for  a  certain  office.  Our  Saviour 
uses  the  language  of  love  and  hate  in  this  sense. 
St.  Luke,  xiv.  25. — "If  any  man  come  to  me, 
and  hate  not  his  father,  and  mother,  and  wife, 
and  children,  and  brethren,  and  sisters,  yea, 
and  his  own  life  also,  he  can  not  be  my  disci- 
ple." And  John,  xii.  25.— "He  that  loveth 
his  life  shall  lose  it ;  and  he  that  hateth  his  life 
in  this  world  shall  keep  it  unto  life  eternal.1 ? 


36  OBJECTION     I. 

Now  seeing  that  the  scriptures  undeniably 
teach  us  to  love  our  kindred,  and  even  our  ene- 
mies, and  by  all  allowable  means  to  preserve 
our  lives  and  theirs;  it  cannot  have  been  the 
design  of  Jesus  to  teach  an  opposite  doctrine, 
but  only  that  while  we  sincerely  and  affection- 
ately love  our  relatives,  we  should,  as  disciples, 
love  him  with  a  still  stronger  and  more  devoted 
affection ;  and  that  we  should  strongly  prefer 
eternal  life  to  our  temporal  life  in  this  world. 

Again,  the  election  mentioned  in  the  case  of 
Jacob  and  Esau,  has  no  relation  to  their  eternal 
state ;  nor  does  it  seem  to  relate  to  them  per- 
sonally, but  as  the  agents  or  fathers  of  two  dis- 
tinct people  or  nations.  The  matter  of  this 
election  was  the  choice  of  Jehovah  that  Christ 
should  be  given  to  the  Israelites  and  not  the 
Edonites  ;  and  as  from  necessity  he  must  select 
and  prefer  one  nation  to  all  others  for  this  pur- 
pose, so  he  chose  that  Jesus  should  be  brought 
into  the  world  by  the  posterity  of  Jacob,  and 
not  the  posterity  of  Esau.  In  all  this  we  see 
nothing  like  positive  hatred  or  eternal  reproba- 
tion of  any  person  or  people  5  for  God  so  loved 
the  world  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son 
to  be  the  light  and  Saviour  of  all  the  nations  of 
the  earth. 

We  are  also  constrained  to  regard  the  above 
interpretation,  or  any  other  which  can  be  given 
of  those  or  other  passages  of  God's  word  in 


OBJECTION     I.  37 

favour  of  this  view  of  election  and  repro- 
bation, as  being  opposed  to  those  great  and 
good  rules  of  expounding  scripture,  which  re- 
quire that  we  should  so  interpret  every  part, 
passage,  doctrine,  and  duty  of  the  bible,  as  1, 
That  the  whole  shall  agree  and  be  consistent 
with  itself.  2.  That  it  shall  be  consistent  with 
the  attributes  and  perfections  of  its  Divine 
Author.  3.  That  nothing  therein  shall  be  re- 
pugnant to  natural  reason  and  equity.  There- 
fore we  cannot  but  object  to  the  eternal  reproba- 
tion of  any  of  the  human  race  as  being  entirely 
opposed  to  the  declaration,  and  numerous  other 
proofs  God  has  given  that  he  is  not  willing  that 
any  should  finally  perish — to  the  numerous  calls 
and  invitations  to  virtue  and  to  glory  which  God 
has  graciously  given  to  all  mankind — and  to 
the  spirit  of  the  apostolic  mission  to  preach  the 
gospel  of  salvation  to  every  creature. 

Lastly,  we  object  to  this  as  a  scripture  doc- 
trine, because  we  think  it  calculated  most  un- 
reasonably to  discourage  and  drive,  even  into 
despair,  beyond  the  reach  of  hope,  the  erring, 
weak  minded,  and  scrupulous,  who  most  of  all 
need  to  be  soothed  in  affliction,  and  encouraged 
to  reform,  and  then  to  grow  in  grace  daily. — 
Nor  is  this  all ; — on  the  other  hand  it  has  a  ten- 
dency to  countenance  the  arrogant,  and  lift  up 
with  pride  the  presuming,  and  embolden  the 
hardened  hypocrite. 


38  OBJECTION     1. 

Having  stated  and  considered  the  view  of 
election  which  is  and  has  ever  been  adopted  by 
genuine  Calvinists,  and  noted  the  reasons  why 
we  think  it  not  to  be  a  scriptural  doctrine,  we 
shall  now  further  only  ask  your  attention  to 
what  we  conceive  to  be  the  genuine  doctrine  of 
election,  as  taught  in  the  bible.  We  first  meet 
with  this  doctrine  in  the  sacred  pages,  in  the 
case  of  Abraham,  who  was  separated  from  his 
people  and  his  father's,  house  and  chosen  from  all 
the  families  of  the  earth,  to  be  the  servant  and 
the  friend  of  God  5  who  called,  appointed,  and 
predestinated  him  to  rear  up  and  establish  a 
house,  kingdom,  and  priesthood,  agreeably  to 
the  purpose  and  will  of  God,  which  should  be 
distinguished  from  all  other  kingdoms  and  peo- 
ple, by  the  enjoyment  of  peculiar  honours,  titles, 
blessings,  privileges,  and  the  covenant  of  Jeho- 
vah. Here  is  both  personal  and  national  elec- 
tion— personal  to  Abraham,  national  to  the 
Jews.  Between  personal  and  national  election 
however,  their  is  no  difference  in  principle  5  for 
personal  election  extended  to  a  nation,  becomes 
national.  But  to  what  were  Abraham  and  the 
Jews  elected  ?  Were  they  elected  to  eternal  sal- 
vation, to  the  endless  exclusion  of  all  persons  and 
nations  but  themselves  ?  By  no  means,  they 
were  elected  to  receive,  preserve,  and  transmit 
the  genuine  worship  of  God,  till  the  Messiah, 
the  true  seed  to  whom  the  promises  were  made, 


OBJECTION     I.  jy 

should  come  and  dispense  the  same  divine  sys- 
tem of  religion  to  the  nations.  Since  the  com- 
ing of  Christ,  and  the  calling  of  all  nations  to 
the  service  of  God,  and  the  blessings  of  his 
kingdom  made  by  the  gospel,  all  nations  and 
people  are  and  have  been  elected  to  similar  du- 
ties, promises,  and  honours,  to  those  before  ex- 
clusively enjoyed  by  the  Jews  5  so  that  the  call- 
ing and  election  of  the  Jews,  and  the  divine 
dispensations  towards  them,  were  pledges  of 
the  infinitely  kind  and  gracious  design  of  Deity, 
to  extend  in  the  fulness  of  time,  his  great  salva- 
tion to  all  mankind,  in  Jesus,  the  true  seed  of 
Abraham.  And  as  a  demonstration  of  their 
having  been  originally  separated  from  the  rest 
of  the  world,  by  an  immediate  revelation  from 
heaven — of  their  having  enjoyed  the  special 
care  of  a  holy  Providence,  and  been  redeemed 
from  Egypt,  and  Babylon,  by  the  hand  of  the 
Most  High — and  also  of  the  certain  accomplish- 
ment of  all  the  purposes  of  God,  relative  to  them 
and  the  Gentiles,  as  a  demonstration  of  this  we 
say,  they  have  for  1800  years,  though  dispers- 
ed, without  either  civil  or  ecclesiastical  polity, 
persecuted  and  derided  by  the  nations  for  their 
singularity,  yet  they  have  in  the  face,  and  to 
the  utter  astonishment  of  the  world,  remained  a 
distinct  and  separate  people,  and  will  no  doubt 
continue  so  to  be,  till  the  gospel  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  whom   they  rejected  and   crucified, 


4U  OBJECTION     I. 

shall  succeed  in  uniting  both  Jews  and  Gen- 
tiles, in  one  new  and  grand  assembly  of  true 
worshippers  5  and  thus  prove  him  to  be  the 
salvation  of  God  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

Election  is  often  in  the  sacred  writings  ap- 
plied to  the  selection  which  God  makes  of  cer- 
tain persons,  for  certain  offices  and  duties.  In 
this  sense,  and  in  reference  to  his  having  been 
appointed  to  the  ever  blessed  office  of  mediator 
between  God  and  men,  Jesus  is  proclaimed  as 
the  elect  and  chosen  of  the  Lord.  Isa.  xlii. 
1.  St.  Mat.  xii.  18.  In  like  manner  St.  Paul 
and  the  other  Apostles  were  chosen  vessels, 
to  bear  the  riches  of  the  gospel  to  all  nations 
and  kindreds  of  men.  Acts,  i.  24,  xxvi,  16. 
And  St.  John,  xvii.  18. — and  many  other  places. 
In  this  way  also  all  true  christians  are  elected 
and  separated  from  the  world  by  their  faith, 
principles  of  action,  and  hopes  of  glory  ;  and 
are  called  not  only  to  enjoy,  but  to  exemplify  by 
their  conduct,  and  diffuse  and  spread  by  their 
exertions,  the  excellent  principles,  and  rich 
blessings  of  Christianity,  until  the  moral  wilder- 
ness shall,  beneath  their  genial  influence,  bud 
and  blossom  as  the  rose  5  the  whole  earth  be- 
come the  garden  of  the  Lord  ;  and  the  nations 
of  it  be  brought  to  feel  and  own  that  christians 
have  been  emphatically  the  salt  that  preserved 
them,  and  the  light  that  spread  around  them  the 
effulgence  of  heavenly  bliss.      Certainly  my 


OBJECTION    I.  41 

Christian  hearers,  this  view  of  the  bible  doc- 
trine of  election  implies  no  eternal  reproba- 
tion, but  proves  that  it  is  the  grand  purpose 
of  God  to  save  the  whole  world  ;  and  thus  it 
strongly  supports  the  benevolent  sentiment  of 
the  final  restitution  of  all  things.  The  leading 
principle  in  this  doctrine  of  election,  is  this, 
viz : — That  the  peculiarly  elected,  are  so  elect- 
ed for  the  benefit  and  salvation  of  those  who 
are  not,  like  themselves,  specially  elected. 

We  have  now,  as  we  hope,  succeeded  in 
finding  the  true  meaning  of  election,  and 
shown  that  it  does  not  oppose,  but  wonderfully 
favours  the  happiness  of  the  world  5  and,  there- 
fore, seeing  the  mediation  of  Christ,  the  preach- 
ing and  mission  of  the  apostles,  and  the  united 
influence  of  christians,  and  christian  princi- 
ples and  examples,  are  all  directed  by  the  will^ 
and  aided  by  the  spirit  and  power  of  God,  in 
establishing  the  universal  empire  of  grace  and 
of  glory,  who  can  doubt  its  accomplishment, 
to  the  praise  of  God,  and  the  joy  of  angels  ? 

But  several  voices  seem  to  say  in  my  ear, 
though  we  do  not  believe  God  has  limited  sal- 
vation by  election,  yet  we  do  not  believe  in  uni- 
versal salvation,  because  we  think  salvation  to 
be  conditional :  Therefore,  the  conditionality  of 
salvation  will  be  our  theme  the  next  evening. 

6 


LECTURE   III. 


OBJECTION  II. 


HEBREWS  XII.    14. 

FOLLOW     PEACE    WITH     ALL    MEN,    AND     HOLINESS,    WITHOUT 
WHICH    NO    MAN    SHALL    SEE    THE    LORD. 

However  some  men  of  proud  and  selfish 
feelings  may  spurn  the  idea,  there  is  no  true 
christian,  could  he  be  perfectly  convinced  the 
whole  intelligent  creation  of  God  would  be 
made  eternally  happy,  consistently  with  the  di- 
vine perfections  and  the  rights  of  human  agen- 
cy, that  would  not  rejoice  with  joy  unutterable 
at  such  a  conquest  over  sin  and  death,  such  a 
triumph  of  the  Redeemer's  grace,  and  such 
a  glorious  display  of  infinite  goodness,  wis- 
dom, and  power ;  and  that  would  not  most  cor- 


OBJECTION     II.  43 

dially  join  the  song  of  angels  in  acclamations  of 
"Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,and  on  earth  peace 
and  good  will  towards  men."  But  there  are 
many  who  suppose  that  by  the  gospel,  salvation 
is  truly  and  freely  offered  to  all,  upon  such 
conditions  as  they  can  readily  accept  or  reject 
as  they  please  5  and  that  during  what  they  term 
the  day  of  probation,  many  will  continue  wil- 
fully to  reject  the  terms  of  grace,  and  so  by 
their  own  sinful  neglect,  come  forever  short  of 
the  great  salvation  set  before  us  in  Jesus 
Christ. 

This  objection  being  made  to  our  religious 
belief,  not  only  by  many  persons,  but  by  many 
of  profound  learning  in  theology,  and  of  distin- 
guished piety  and  usefulness  in  the  church  of 
God,  we  shall  now  investigate  its  merits  with  a 
oare  becoming  its  importance,  and  he  that  hath 
ears  to  hear  let  him  hear. 

The  doctrine  of  the  objection  is  asserted  to 
have  in  its  favour  the  most  clear  and  unequiv- 
ocal authority  of  both  reason  and  scripture. 

It  is  claimed  to  be  perfectly  reasonable,  that 
the  Deity  should  bestow  salvation  on  his  crea- 
tures by  such  conditions  only  as  will  perfectly 
secure  his  own  glory,  and  as  will  promote  and 
secure  the  obedience  and  perpetual  happiness 
of  all  the  subjects  of  his  kingdom  5  and  such 
the  conditions  of  salvation  are  averred  to  be,  as 
will   more  fully   appear  by   reference  to  the 


44  OBJECTION    II. 

scriptures  on  the  subject.  The  objector  as- 
serts, that  the  substance  of  his  objection  is  very 
forcibly  expressed  in  the  text  at  the  head  of  this 
discourse,  where  complete  salvation  is  implied- 
ly offered  to  the  sinner's  acceptance,  i.  e.  the 
blissful  visions  of  God's  presence  and  glory,  are 
presented  to  our  most  enraptured  imagination, 
but  not  without  conditions,  which  are  these : 
perfect  holiness  of  heart  and  life.  What  can 
be  plainer  than  that  no  one  can  ever  see  and 
enjoy  God  in  his  heavenly  kingdom,  except  he 
first  follow  after  holiness,  and  obtain  it ;  which 
irresistibly  proves  that  holiness  is  the  only  con- 
dition on  which  God  can  accept  and  save  the 
sinner. 

The  evangelical  prophet  Isaiah  expresses 
the  same  sentiments  in  the  most  beautiful  and 
familiar  language,  saying,  "  The  willing  and  the 
obedient  shall  eat  the  good  of  the  land" — which 
places  it  beyond  controversy  that  the  disobedi- 
ent and  the  obdurate  shall  never  enter  into  the 
rest,  nor  taste  the  riches  of  that  heavenly  and 
better  country  sought  by  the  righteous.  And 
Jesus  subscribes  to  the  same  opinion,  when  he 
says,  "  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they 
shall  see  God."  If  the  impure  in  heart  could 
have  seen  him  also,  would  Jesus  have  thus 
spoken  ?  Also,  when  St.  John  saw  the  most 
sublimated  visions  of  the  new  heavens,  and  the 
new  earth,  and  of  the  city  of  Jehovah,    with 


OBJECTION    II.  45 

those  that  shared  its  freedom,  he  exclaimed, 
"  Blessed  are  they  that  do  his  commandments, 
that  they  may  have  right  to  the  tree  of  life,  and 
may  enter  in  through  the  gates  into  the  city." 

Not  only  these  places,  but  much  of  the  scrip- 
tures of  both  the  old  and  new  testament  are  sup- 
posed to  establish  the  truth  of  the  objection  as 
clearly  as  the  light  of  day  shows  us  the  objects 
that  lie  before  us.  But  they  also  believe  and 
affirm,  thai  both  Solomon,  the  wisest  of  the 
kings  of  Israel,  and  Jesus  the  Lord  of  the  holy 
prophets,  taught  that  the  probation,  or  time, 
and  only  time,  when  these  conditions  could  ever 
be  accepted,  is  our  day  of  life  in  this  present 
world. 

Solomon  exhorted  the  people  of  his  time  in 
such  language  as  may  with  great  profit,  be  oft 
repeated  in  our  ears,  i.  e.  "  Whatsoever  thy 
hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  thy  might ;  for 
there  is  no  work,  nor  device,  nor  knowledge, 
nor  wisdom,  in  the  grave  whither  thou  goest." 
And  Jesus,  in  the  8th  chapter  of  John,  warns 
the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  saying,  "  I  go  my 
way,  and  ye  shall  seek  me,  and  shall  die  in 
your  sins :  whither  I  go,  ye  cannot  come  :  for 
if  ye  believe  not  that  I  am  he,  ye  shall  die  in 
your  sins."  These  two  passages,  and  some 
others,  are  accounted  sufficient  authority  for 
believing  that  the  day  of  grace  is  limited  to  the 
period  of  the  present  life  :  so  that  all  beyond  is 


4*D  OBJECTION     II. 

a  night  in  which  no  work  can  be  done,  no 
means  of  grace  enjoyed  or  improved. 

The  objection  thus  fully  and  fairly  stated  in 
connexion  with  the  scriptural  authority  alleged 
in  its  support,  very  naturally  divides  itself  into 
two  branches  :  1.  The  condition.  2.  The  day 
of  salvation. 

There  are  some  christians  who  apply  the  doc- 
trine of  the  objection  to  the  first  covenant, 
otherwise  usually  called  the  covenant  of  works, 
but  not  to  the  second  covenant,  i.  e.  the  cove- 
nant of  God's  free  and  all-sufficient  grace  in 
Christ  Jesus.  But  as  this  view  offers  no  objec- 
tion to  our  sentiments,  we  shall  waive  its  further 
notice  as  irrelevant  to  the  argument,  and  call 
your  attention  to  the  first  branch  of  the  objec- 
tion, the  conditions  or  terms  of  salvation. 

The  question  now  to  be  decided  is  this,  viz. 
Is  the  salvation  of  the  gospel  conditional  ?  The 
only  difficulty  in  the  way  of  giving  a  plain  an- 
swer to  this  plain  question,  grows  out  of  the 
different  senses  in  which  the  term  condition  has 
been  used  by  different  persons.  Some  for  in- 
stance have  used  it  for  what  must  necessarily 
make  uncertain,  and  limit  the  object  to  which 
it  is  applied  5 — for  what  is  a  valuable  equivalent 
for  the  benefit  received,  as  the  terms  of  a  con- 
tract are  supposed  to  be  equal  in  value  to  the 
object  of  it ;  or  for  something  to  be  perform- 
ed in  our  own  strength  j  and  when  performed 


OBJECTION    II.  47 

to  give  us  a  meritorious  claim  to  salvation.  In 
this  sense  it  has  been  employed  by  mere  lega- 
lists, and  perhaps  inadvertently  by  some  others  5 
and  in  this  sense  we  consider  it  as  both  unscrip- 
tural  and  useless.  It  is  unscriptural,  because 
in  the  sacred  writings  salvation  is  every  where 
represented  to  be  the  effect  of  the  free  and 
saving  grace  of  God  in  a  Redeemer,  and  not 
in  the  least  degree  the  production  of  works,  or 
of  human  merit.  And  to  have  offered  salvation 
to  sinners  on  the  terms  of  their  giving  what 
may  in  any  possible  way  be  considered  an  equi- 
valent in  value  for  it,  would  certainly  [have 
been  offering  it  on  sjuch  terms  as  could  never 
have  been  accepted  by  any  of  those  whom  Je- 
sus declares  to  be  wretched  and  miserable, 
and  poor,  and  blind,  and  naked ;  and  whom, 
therefore,  he  counsels  to  buy  of  him  (i.  e.  with- 
out money  and  without  price)  never  failing 
riches,  and  the  pure  and  spotless  robes  of 
righteousness,  that  they  may  walk  with  the 
blessed,  and  dwell  forever  with  the  redeemed. 
Others  apply  this  term  to  faith,  repentance, 
and  other  christian  duties,  as  being  the  means 
without  which  no  one  can  be  saved  5  giving 
to  conditions  the  force  and  use  of  means  only ; 
in  which  sense  we  are  not  opposed  to  them, 
though  on  account  of  the  abuse  to  which  they 
are  liable,  we  much  prefer  the  word  means. 
Because  the  means  of  salvation  being  appoint- 


4S  OBJECTION     ii. 

ed  by  infinite  wisdom,  and  adapted  to  reclaim 
the  world  from  sin,  are  so  far  from  limiting 
salvation,  or  even  rendering  it  uncertain,  that 
they  are  the  method  by  which  God  has  made  it 
certain  in  the  counsels  of  his  goodness,  and  by 
which,  in  his  own  time,  he  will  accomplish  to  his 
own  everlasting  praise,  and  the  greatest  possi- 
ble good  of  the  universe. 

Before  we  proceed  to  show  that  the  means  of 
grace  are  sufficient  to  effect  their  most  glorious 
end,  the  salvation  of  the  world,  we  shall  notice 
the  other  branch  of  the  objection,  viz.  that  all 
conditions  or  means  of  grace  are  limited  to 
this  life.  That  some  of  the  means  of  grace 
are  peculiar  to  this  life  we  admit  5  but  that  all 
of  them  are,  we  see  no  cause  to  believe,  but 
have  many  reasons  for  the  opposite  opinion. — 
So  long  and  so  deeply  has  this  opinion  been 
rooted  in  the  minds  of  the  greater  part  of  Chris- 
tendom, that  to  oppose  it,  or  call  its  truth  in 
question,  will  probably  be  deemed  by  many  a 
species  of  profanity.  But  our  object  is  truth, 
regardless  of  all  such  considerations,  though  it 
be  found  with  the  few,  and  be  contemned  by  the 
many.  The  great  names  that  have  supported 
it  are  fallible  like  other  men,  and  the  scriptures 
quoted  above  for  its  authority  are  far  from  be- 
ing conclusive. 

Solomon  by  bidding  us  to  do  with  our  might 
whatever  our  hands  find  to  do,  because  there 


OBJECTION     II. 


49 


is  no  work,  devise,  wisdom,  or  knowledge  in  the 
grave,  had  reference  to  the  temporal  works,  and 
social  duties  peculiar  to  the  present  world. 
This  passage,  therefore,  might  be  as  successful- 
ly quoted  to  prove  there  will  be  no  conscious- 
ness of  being  beyond  (not  in)  the  grave,  as  that 
there  will  be  no  repentance  felt,  virtue  ac- 
quired, or  pardon  obtained  there. 

Nor  does  it  appear  from  an  attentive  perusal, 
and  a  careful  regard  to  the  scope  of  what  our 
Saviour  says  in  the  8th  of  John,  and  the  parallel 
places,  that  he  designed  to  teach  the  Jews  that 
after  death  there  would  be  no  possible  method 
for  their  salvation  5  but  he  seems  rather  to  warn 
them  that  his  peculiar  mission  to  them  as  his 
own  people,  would  soon  close  5  that  through  the 
stubborness  of  their  unbelief  they  would  reject 
him,  but  after  the  Romans  should  besiege  their 
city,  and  the  woes  denounced  against  them 
should  threaten,  they  would  then  in  vain  seek 
deliverance  by  the  appearance,  not  of  himself, 
but  of  some  false  Messiah,  and  thus  die  in  their 
sins  ;  and  the  opportunity  they  then  enjoyed 
of  entering  in  with  Christ  into  his  kingdom  on 
earth,  and  of  so  following  him  to  glory  as  the 
first  fruits  of  grace  would  be  lost  by  them  for- 
ever. 

Had  it  been  our  Saviour's"  purpose  by  the 
words,  "  whither  I  go  ye  cannot  come,"  to  pro- 
claim the  endless  seperation  of  the  rulers  and 

7 


50  OBJECTION    II. 

people  of  Israel  from  his  heavenly  kingdom, 
we  cannot  think  he  would  have  addressed  the 
same  language  to  his  own  disciples,  saying,  "As 
I  said  unto  the  Jews,  whither  I  go  ye  cannot 
come;   so  now  I  say  unto  you."    John  xiii.  33. 

Again,  St.  Paul,  who  certainly  knew  the 
mind  of  Christ,  says  of  these  very  Jews,  who 
were  broken  off  for  their  unbelief,  God  is  able 
to  graft  them  in  again,  and  the  receiving  of 
them  shall  be  life  from  the  dead  ;  and  so  all 
Israel  be  saved.  And  to  this  agree  the  words 
of  Jesus  in  another  place,  John  xii.  32.  "And 
I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will  draw 
all  men  unto  me." 

The  spirit  of  what  our  Lord  says  on  this  sub- 
ject seems  to  us  to  be  this,  viz.  no  unbeliever, 
as  such,  can  come  to  Christ  either  in  the  king- 
dom of  his  grace,  or  that  of  his  glory  5  that 
those  who  continued  in  unbelief  and  die  in  sin, 
as  all  do  who  die  in  unbelief,  will  continue  to 
have  the  same  inability  they  had  while  living  ; 
and  here  he  leaves  the  matter,  but  without 
the  least  indication  that  natural  death,  which  is 
wholly  a  physical  change,  will  make  any  moral 
or  spiritual  change  in  the  condition  of  men, 
either  for  or  against  them. 

And  if,  as  St.  Peter  assures  us  was  the 
case,  the  gospel  was  preached  after  the  death 
of  Christ  to  those  who  lived  and  died  in  sin 
in  the  days  of  Noah,  that  they  might  be  judged 


OBJECTION     II.  51 

according  to  men  in  the  flesh,  but  live  accord- 
ing to  God  in  the  spirit;  why  should  we 
count  it  strange  that  those  who  died  in  sin  at 
Jerusalem  should  have  extended  to  them  equal 
means  of  final  salvation  ? 

The  limitation  of  all  means  and  methods  of 
grace  to  the  narrow  span  of  this  life,  not  only 
fails  of  a  fair  scripture  support,  but  it  is  opposed 
to  reason  and  equity  5  for  if  all  means  are 
limited  to  this  world,  there  is  a  vast  and  glaring 
disproportion  and  partiality  in  their  bestow- 
ment  5  some  enjoying  the  clear  day,  and  others 
sitting  in  the  cold  regions  of  night. 

Think  what  vast  numbers  of  the  heathen 
have  lived  and  passed  off  the  stage  of  life, 
without  ever  hearing  so  much  as  the  name  of 
Jesus ; — think  how  many  infants  die  even  before 
they  are  able  to  lisp  the  mercy  of  Christ  5 — and 
how  many  there  have  been,  and  are,  to  whom 
nature  has  been  so  sparing  in  her  gifts  that 
their  responsibility  is  a  problem  beyond  our 
reach.  * 

Shall  we  at  once  turn  all  these  to  destruction 
without  even  the  possibility  of  escape  ? 

How  much  more  reasonable  is  it  for  us  to  be- 
lieve that  Christ,  who  is  Lord  both  of  the  dead 
and  living,  will  continue  to  use  with  all  his 
creatures,  in  all  conditions,  the  most  appropri- 
ate means  for  their  reformation,  till   all   shall 


52  OBJECTION    II. 

be  subdued  to  him,  and  he  resign  his  kingdom 
perfect  to  the  Father. 

With  both  branches  of  this  objection  we 
have  now  done  5  and  shall  close  the  lecture  by 
showing  the  strong  probability  there  is  of  the 
truth  of  universal  salvation  from  the  fulness 
and  efficiency  of  the  means  God  has  appointed 
for  that  end. 

Certainly  if  conditions  have  only  the  use  of 
means,  no  one  could  object  to  them  5  but  as 
in  that  case  nothing  but  means  would  be 
intended,  it  would  clearly  be  more  simple, 
as  well  fas  more  analogous  to  nature,  to  use 
the  latter.  The  universe  is  a  vast  assemblage 
of  means  and  ends.  God  employs  means  for  the 
display  of  his  own  perfections  ;  and  by  them 
carries  on  the  kingdom  of  nature,  providence, 
and  grace.  Think  of  the  vast  number  of 
means  which  must  be  employed  by  the  Creator 
to  effect  the  next  eclipse  of  the  sun,  and  with 
what  minute  exactness  they  must  each  operate 
to  the  same  end.  How  countless  are  the 
means  employed  in  the  changes  and  government 
of  the  seasons,  and  the  alterations  of  day  and 
night. 

When  the  Lord  marked  Jerusalem,  Nine- 
veh, or  the  old  world,  for  destruction,  no  means 
to  effect  those  astonishing  events  were  wanting  5 
nor  when  he  would  redeem  his  people  from 
bondage  in  Egypt,  or  from  captivity  in  Baby- 


OBJECTION     II.  53 

lonr  But  while  these  events  were  accomplish- 
ed by  the  most  perfect  cooperation  of  such 
extended  assemblages  of  instruments,  others, 
perhaps,  of  no  less  importance,  were  apparently 
accomplished  by  single,  or  at  least,  a  much 
more  limited  number.  Thus,  when  in  later 
times  he  would  favour  the  world  with  a  most 
wonderful  improvement  in  the  science  of  as- 
tronomy, he  sent  a  Newton  to  measure  the 
spheres,  number  the  stars,  and  note  their  move- 
ments— and  it  was  done.  And  when  in  his 
good  pleasure  he  would  give  independence  to 
the  favoured  descendants  of  the  pilgrims,  he 
gave  a  Washington  to  their  armies  ;  an  Adams, 
a  Jefferson,  and  a  Franklin  to  their  counsel  5 
and  a  rich  inheritance  was  theirs. 

But  when  God  would  exhibit  the  glories  of 
redemption,  he  sent  his  only  begotten  Son  to  be 
the  Saviour  of  the  world ;  and  a  glory  above  the 
brightness  of  the  sun  in  the  firmament  beamed 
along  the  shores  of  death. 

Jesus,  also,  in  the  amazing  and  benignant 
transactions  of  his  mission  on  earth,  honoured 
and  employed  means,  simple  means,  in  their  ac- 
complishment. The  apostles,  and  faithful  fol- 
lowers of  Christianity,  by  the  gentle,  yet  pow- 
erful and  heavenly  methods  appointed  by  their 
master,  in  a  few  years,  and  against  a  most 
powerful  and  cruel  opposition,  established  and 
triumphantly  spread  the  gospel  through  many 


54  OBJECTION    II. 

nations  of  the  earth  5  so  that  for  it  now  to 
become  the  universal  religion  of  the  world 
within  two  centuries  to  come,  would  not  be 
more  surprising  than  that  it  spread  as  far  as  it 
did  in  the  three  first.  Such  an  event  is  believ- 
ed by  most  christians,  and  is  very  susceptible 
of  proof  by  the  scriptures.  Consider  how 
many  and  how  powerful  must  be  the  means 
that  shall  unite  the  Jews  and  the  Gentiles  in 
faith,  in  friendship,  and  in  good  works  5  and 
yet  the  bible  asserts,  with  peculiar  force,  that 
this  shall  be  done. 

Now  if  there  be  means  of  grace  sufficient  to 
fill  the  earth  with  a  millenium  glory  5  unite  all 
nations  in  Christ,  and  perfect  them  in  holiness, 
that  they  may  see  God  and  live  forever  5  why 
should  it  be  thought  more  difficult  for  the  Deity 
to  bring  those  of  every  age  to  see  and  enjoy 
his  heavenly  kingdom,  than  to  bring  all  of  a 
particular  age  ?  seeing  the  dead  also  are  his, 
and  when  he  will  he  can  restore  them  to  life, 
to  holiness,  and  heaven.  To  conclude,  if  the 
united  means  of  grace  and  power  in  the  hands 
of  Jesus  be  sufficient  for  the  salvation  of  the 
world,  as  we  think  is  very  apparent  from  the 
consideration  of  their  spirituality,  variety,  and 
efficiency  when  directed  as  they  are  by  infinite 
wisdom,  then  it  follows,  that  the  method  God 
has  chosen  by  which  to  impart  salvation  to  his 
creatures,   can  never  limit,  or  make  it  uncer- 


OBJECTION    II.  55 

tain  to  any,  but  must  tend  to  spread  and  per- 
fect it,  till  heaven  and  earth  shall  be  full  of  its 
praise. 

I  cannot  close  without  remarking,  that  it 
would  be  a  most  gross  abuse  of  this  doctrine 
for  any  one  to  say,  or  attempt  to  argue,  that 
because  God  has  appointed  sufficient  means 
for  the  restoration  of^all  men  to  purity  and 
happiness,  and  because  those  means  will,  in 
the  hands  of  moral  agents,  prove  successful 
during  the  reign  of  the  Messiah  5  therefore,  there 
is  no  need  of  our  using  them,  and  so  we  may 
with  impunity  neglect  our  moral,  social,  or 
religious  duties,  under  the  pretence  that  our 
salvation  is  sure.  We  know  that  it  is  the 
perfection  of  the  gospel  salvation  that  it  is  sure, 
but  it  is  no  more  sure  than  are  the  means  used 
by  Christ  to  procure  it,  and  also  those  to  be  used 
by  us  for  its  attainment.  While  we  neglect  or 
refuse  to  use  them,  we  can  never  expect  to  be 
happy  in  ourselves,  or  good  examplers  to 
others  5  for  none  but  enthusiasts  and  immoral 
characters  ever  refuse  to  improve  the  means 
recommended  by  the  gospel.  On  the  other 
hand,  what  an  encouragement  does  this  senti- 
ment give  to  every  reasonable  and  good  man, 
to  try  in  good  earnest  to  hear  the  gospel,  read 
the  scriptures,  meditate  on  heavenly  things, 
watch  his  heart,seek  christian  conversation,  and 
also  to  hold  communion  with  heaven  Uy  prayer 


56  OBJECTION    II. 

and  praise  5  knowing  that  by  this  method  he 
shall  promote  his  best  interest  on  earth,  and 
be  ripening  for  glory  5  and  though  but  an  hum- 
ble servant,  he  will  also  be  a  coworker  together 
with  Christ  the  Lord,  who  by  the  light  of  his 
word,  the  blessed  influence  of  his  spirit,  and 
the  power  of  the  resurrection,  will  happily 
succeed  in  bringing  the  world  to  see  God,  and 
enjoy  him  forever. 

It  may  be  said  by  some,  though  there  can 
be  no  decree  or  condition  shown  to  limit  salva- 
tion, yet  if  God  has  declared  that  some  shall 
suffer  eternal  misery,  then  of  necessity  all  can- 
not be  saved.  In  the  next  lecture,  therefore, 
we  shall,  if  God  permit,  respectfully,  but  fear- 
lessly, examine  the  objection  of  endless  misery. 


LECTURE  IV. 


DURATION  OF  PUNISHMENT  CONSIDERED. 


GENESIS  XVIII.  25. 

SHALL  NOT  THE  JUDGE  OF  ALL  THE  EARTH  DO  RIGHT  ? 

The  question  to  be  considered  this  evening,  is  not 
whether  there  will  be  endless,  or  no  future  punish- 
ment? nor  whether  future  punishment  will  termi- 
nate in  annihilation,  or  be  extended  without  end  ? 
— but  this  is  the  question,  whether  future  punish- 
ment will  be  endless,  or  limited  in  degree  and  du- 
ration, according  to  the  character  of  the  impeni- 
tent, and  so  result  in  their  restoration  to  happi- 
ness ?  This  is  a  momentous  question — one  of 
the  most  intense  interest  to  the  character  of  God 
and  religion — one,  which  has  engaged  the  gravest 

attention  of  the  wisest  and  best  of  men,  in  ancient 

8 


58  DURATION       OF 

and  modern  times — and  one,  'which  has  justly 
claimed  and  received  the  profoundest  investigation; 
for  upon  its  answer  depends  an  eternity  of  joy  or 
of  grief,  for  myriads  of  the  human  race.  This  is 
not,  properly  speaking,  a  sectarian  question,  but 
one  in  which  we  are  all  deeply  concerned ;  and 
therefore  it  merits  the  most  serious  treatment,  and 
our  most  prayerful  consideration. 

Punishment,  either  limited  or  unlimited,  presup- 
poses the  existence  of  a  Ruler ;  of  laws,  and  of 
subjects,  who  are  capable  of  knowing  the  laws, 
and  doing  the  will  of  the  ruler.  Therefore  to 
judge  of  the  punishment,  we  must  be  acquainted 
with  the  character  of  the  Lawgiver,  the  nature  of  the 
laws,  and  the  capacity  and  circumstances  of  the 
subjects. 

The  character  of  God,  as  seen  in  his  works,  is 
most  glorious.  The  creation  around  us  is  a  mir- 
ror in  which  we  behold  "his  eternal  power  and 
Godhead."  The  lofty  mountain,  the  extended 
plain,  the  starry  heavens  and  the  mighty  deep, 
give  but  a  faint  idea  of  his  immensity  ;  the  move- 
ments of  the  heavenly  bodies,  the  revolutions  of 
the  earth,  and  the  change  of  the  seasons,  all  pre- 
serving such  perfect  order,  and  resulting  in  the 
production  of  so  much  good  to  the  universe,  are 
but  faint  illustrations  of  his  wisdom  ;  and  the 
cheering  influences  of  the  sun,  the  salubrity  of 
the  air,  and  the  productions  of  the  earth  and  sea* 


PUNISHMENT.  59 

sustaining  and  blessing  such  countless  myriads  of 
various  beings,  are  but  the  smallest  proofs  of  his 
goodness.  But  when  we  think  of  the  power  that 
gave  being  to  the  universe,  and  the  discernment 
that  reads  the  heart,  and  sees  the  end  from  the 
beginning  ;  the  mind,  overwhelmed  with  reverence 
and  wonder,  unites  with  the  sacred  writers,  in  as- 
cribing to  him  the  attributes  of  eternity,  omnipo- 
tence, and  infinity,  and  also,  the  perfections  of 
knowledge,  wisdom,  and  goodness.  His  natural 
relations  to  man  are  those  of  Creator,  Benefactor, 
and  Judge ;  and  thus  far  at  least,  he  is  the  same 
to  every  human  creature,  and  they  are  the  same 
to  him  ;  for  having  created  them  all  of  "one  blood ," 
he  can  be  "no  respecter  of  persons."  And  hence, 
as  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth,  he  cannot  but  do, 
right. 

The  law,  by  which  we  are  to  regulate  our  con- 
duct, as  the  subjects  of  this  Supreme  Ruler,  is  re- 
velation, without  which  we  should  never  have 
been  able  to  merit  from  him  either  praise  or  blame ; 
for  nature  and  the  works  of  God,  unassisted  by 
the  light  of  revelation,  could  never  have  taught 
us  the  divine  will  in  regard  to  our  relative  duties 
to  each  other,  or  the  worship  to  be  offered  to  him, 
much  less  could  it  have  furnished  those  powerful 
motives   to  obedience,   drawn  from  a  future  state. 

The  chief  designs  of  revelation  are  the  glory  of 
God,  and  the  good  of  men  ;   and  its  principal  top- 


60  DURATION     OF 

-ics,  the  display  of  the  divine  perfections,  the  der 
claration  of  the  divine  will,  and  the  discovery  of 
the  motives  to  its  performance. 

Its  doctrines  in  reference  to  Deity,  to  the  ori- 
gin and  destiny  of  human  nature,  to  the  present 
and  future  state,  together  with  the  method  of  pre- 
paration for  an  advancement  to  eternal  life,  are 
most  rational,  pure,  holy  and  sublime.  Its  pre- 
cepts are  most  benevolent,  just,  and  suited  to  pro- 
cure for  their  author  the  greatest  praise,  and  for 
men  the  greatest  personal  and  social  happiness. 
The  promised  rewards  to  faith  and  virtue,  being 
according  to  our  honest  designs  and  real  good 
works,  are  happily  calculated  to  advance  us  by  de- 
grees in  the  attainment  of  perfection  ;  and  the 
threatenings  to  unbelief  and  vice,  being  also  pro- 
portioned to  our  voluntary  assent  to  their  influ- 
ence, and  being  emendatory  in  their  design,  must 
have  a  constantly  increasing  tendency  to  banish 
such  feelings  and  habits  from  human  society.  And 
thus  it  is  the  manifest  design  and  tendency  of 
God's  holy  government  in  all  its  administrations, 
to  produce  righteousness  in  the  hearts  and  lives  of 
men. 

To  be  subjects  of  such  a  government,  founded 
on  principle  and  extended  by  moral  suasion,  men 
must  be  moral  and  free  agents,  i.  e.  they  must  he 
capable  of  understanding  the  general  scope  of 
revelation,  the  practical  influence  of  its  doctrines 


PUNISHMENT.  61 

and  precepts,  and  of  feeling  a  conscious  obligation 
and  ability  to  perform  them.  The  sacred  scrip- 
tures therefore  must  be  virtually  their  own  expose 
lor  to  every  man  who  searches  them  prayerfully  : 
and  he  who  does  thus  search  them,  must  know 
what  the  Lord  doth  require  of  him,  and  what  it  is 
right  for  him  to  do  or  not  to  do  ;  and  he  must  also 
have  the  power  of  sincerely  aiming  to  perform 
what  he  thus  knows  to  be  right,  or  he  can  be  no 
subject  of  conscious  desert,  and  of  course  no  sub- 
ject of  moral  government. 

With  this  view  before  us  of  the  character  of 
God,  the  general  nature  and  design  of  his  moral 
government,  and  of  the  capacity  of  men  to  learn 
and  do  his  will,  we  may  form  a  just  idea  of  hu- 
man accountability,  and  of  the  nature  of  that  pun- 
ishment ordained  for  the  disobedient  and  the  sin- 
ner. It  has  been  a  question  whether  the  punish- 
ment of  the  wicked  is  local,  that  is,  whether  it 
will  be  produced  by  the  place  occupied  by  the  suf- 
ferer, rather  than  from  his  character,  and  so  be  in- 
separable from  the  place?  The  locality  of  punish- 
ment has  been  asserted  and  defended  by  very 
many  persons  of  piety  and  talents,  and  rejected  by 
others  of  equal  learning  and  worth.  Among  the 
latter,  are  St.  Origen  and  St.  Augustine,  and  sev- 
eral of  the  Fathers  ;  Calvin,  with  many  others  of 
later  times ;  and  by  far  the  greater  part  of  intelli- 


62  DURATION     OF 

gent  christians  of  the  present  day.  With  these 
we  concur  in  the  opinion  that  hell  is  a  state  or  con- 
dition of  sinners  in  a  future  world,  rather  than  a 
place,  for  the  reasons  that  follow.  First,  it  does 
not  appear  that  any  such  place  was  created,  when 
all  things  visible  and  invisible  were  made  and  pro- 
nounced good.  Secondly,  that  if  such  a  place  had 
been  created  for  the  punishment  of  all  sinners  who 
die  in  impenitency,  it  would  not  have  appeared 
how  they  could  have  been  therein  severally  pun- 
ished according  to  their  respective  works  ;  as  all 
in  that  case  would  have  suffered  the  infliction  of 
the  same  sufferings.  Third,  the  scripture  account 
of  it,  cannot  well  be  understood  otherwise  than 
metaphorically.  And  fourth,  because  the  punish- 
ment of  sinners  will  consist,  according  to  the  scrip- 
tures, in  a  sense  of  the  loss  of  the  divine  favor, 
loss  of  the  pleasures  of  innocence  ;  and  also  of  con- 
scious guilt  for  having  abused  divine  goodness,  and 
betrayed  into  ruin  their  more  innocent  fellow  crea- 
tures. 

From  this  course  of  reasoning,  we  arrive  at  the 
satisfactory  conclusion,  that  although  the  sinner 
must  necessarily  occupy  a  place  suited  to  his  na- 
ture and  mode  of  being  while  he  suffers,  yet  that 
his  sufferings  will  not  proceed  from  the  place,  but 
the  state  of  his  character;  and  consist  in  a  sense 
of  shame,  regret,  remorse,  and  fear,  inflicted  by 
the  righteous  Judge  of  all,  upon  the  awakened 
conscience. 


PUNISHMENT.  C)3 

There  is  therefore  nothing  in  the  character  of 
the  Judge,  the  requirements  of  the  law,  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  agent,  or  the  nature  and  ten- 
dency of  the  punishment,  which  would  necessari- 
ly or  naturally  incline  us  to  the  belief  that  it  will 
be  endless ;  but  much  that  leads  us  to  the  contra- 
ry opinion.  And  hence,  if  the  endless  duration  of 
hell  torments  can  be  supported,  it  must  be  by  the 
clear  and  express  language  of  revelation. 

Here,  let  us  observe,  that  such  is  the  impor- 
tance of  the  doctrine,  such  the  awful  consequences 
of  unceasing  woe,  that  if  it  were  contained  at  all 
in  the  sacred  scriptures,  we  should  expect  to  find  it 
expressed  in  the  most  unequivocal  terms,  and  those 
repeated  by  each  of  the  sacred  writers,  and  in 
every  book,  if  not  in  every  chapter  of  the  bible, 
and  to  see  it  holding  a  most  conspicuous  place  in 
every  creed  and  summary  of  christian  faith,  drawn 
up  by  the  primitive  and  early  followers  of  Christ. 

And  yet,  judging  from  the  habit  of  some  mod- 
ern preachers,  we  shall  upon  examination  be  sur- 
prised to  find  how  sparing  the  sacred  penmen 
have  been  in  the  use  of  such  phrases  in  connexion 
with  punishment,  as  have  been  supposed  to  mean 
endless ;  for  instance,  the  words  everlasting  and 
eternal,  which  are  by  no  means  the  strongest  terms 
to  express  duration,  they  could  have  chosen. 
These  words  occur  only  twice  in  relation  to  suffer- 
ings, in  all  the  old  testament.     They  are  employ- 


6*4  DURATION     OF 

cd  but  three  times  by  St.  Matt,  and  only  Once  in  the 
gospel  of  St.  Mark.  They  are  sought  for  in  vain 
in  the  gospel  of  St.  Luke,  and  in  all  the  accounts 
given  by  him  of  the  early  preaching  of  the  apos- 
tles, in  the  book  of  Acts.  St.  John  neither  uses 
them  in  his  gospel  or  his  epistles ;  and  everlasting 
occurs  but  once  in  all  the  writings  of  St.  Paul, 
which  make  so  considerable  a  part  of  the  new  tes- 
tament, and  then  it  is  everlasting  destruction,  and 
there  is  no  mention  made  of  everlasting  or  eternal 
punishment,  in  the  Epistle  of  St.  James,  or  in 
those  of  St.  Peter.  Not  only  have  most  of  the 
authors  of  the  sacred  writings  wholly  omitted,  and 
the  rest  of  them  been  thus  sparing  in  the  use  of 
those  terms  supposed  to  be  expressive  of  the 
proper  eternity  of  punishment  in  a  future  state; 
but  it  is  a  fact  worthy  of  notice,  that  the  doctrine 
of  endless  sufferings  is  not  found  in  any  summary 
of  christian  faith,  collect,  or  creed,  drawn  up  by 
christians  in  the  early  ages  of  the  church.  The 
Apostles  creed,  for  instance,  does  not  enjoin  the 
belief  of,  or  require  the  assent  of  christians  to  the 
sentiment.  Now,  if  as  some  suppose,  the  belief 
of  this  doctrine  be  so  essential  to  the  christian 
character,  that  he  who  rejects  it  cannot  be  a 
christian  ;  how  are  we  to  account  for  its  entire 
omission  in  this  confessedly  ancient  and  short 
summary  of  the  fundamental  articles  of  the  christ- 
ian faith,   adopted    by   those   who  were  best  ac- 


PUNISHMENT.  65 

quainted  with  genuine  and  primitive  Christianity? 
Nor  is  this  all ;  the  opposite  doctrine  of  the 
Universal  Restoration,  advocated  by  many  of  the 
fathers,  was  never  censured  by  any  act  of  the 
Christian  Church  until  the  close  of  the  4lh  cen- 
tury, and  never  rejected,  till  the  meeting  of  the 
fifth  general  council,  by  whom  it  was  for  the  first 
time,  with  some  other  sentiments,  anathematized 
as  a  damnable  heresy,  and  that  rather  on  account 
of  the  sentiments  associated  with  it,  than  for  its 
own  sake.  These  circumstances  and  facts  con- 
nected with  the  history  and  character  of  future 
punishment,  are  mentioned,  not  as  containing  posi- 
tive proof  of  the  falsity  of  endless  sufferings  ;  but 
as  throwing  light  on  the  general  subject  of  our 
present  inquiry,  and  making  it  certain  that  the 
doctrine  of  a  limited  punishment  to  be  succeeded  by 
an  universal  restoration,  was  advocated  by  many, 
and  tolerated  by  the  whole  body  of  christians  for 
a  long  time,  and  that,  while  the  Church  was  the 
most  pure.  And  if  this  sentiment,  as  we  suppose, 
was  believed  by  the  apostles,  and  therefore  they 
used  the  terms  everlasting  and  eternal  in  a  limited 
sense,  then  we  are  not  to  wonder  that  these  terms 
were  entirely  omitted  by  some,  and  used  so  seldom 
by  others ;  for  in  that  case,  they  would  use  them 
as  being  perfectly  synonymous  with  all  those 
modes  and  forms  of  expression  frequently  used  by 
each  and  every  one  of  them,  to  enforce  a  sense  of 


66  DURATION      OF 

human  accountability,  and  an  apprehension  of  be- 
ing judged  according  to  the  deeds  done  in  the 
body.  And  hence,  these  words  in  the  cases  above 
alluded  to,  mean  no  more  than  that  every  man 
must  give  an  account  of  himself  to  God,  and  be 
rewarded  according  to  his  works ;  a  doctrine 
taught  with  equal  force  and  clearness  by  our 
Lord,  his  apostles,  and  the  holy  prophets,  who 
have  also  spoken  of  the  "restitution  of  all  things," 
and  all  in  perfect  consistency. 

Waving  further  remarks,  having  noticed  the 
question  of  the  locality  of  punishment,  let  us  now 
give  our  attention  to  the  more  important  inquiry 
of  its  duration,  and  consider  the  grounds  urged  by 
those  who  advocate  its  strict  eternity.  The  prin- 
cipal grounds  relied  upon  for  its  support,  are  three, 
the  scriptures,  justice,  and  reason.  We  come  to 
this  work  with  perfect  respect  for  the  sincerity, 
piety,  and  learning,  of  those  from  whose  views  we 
freely  use  the  liberty  of  dissenting,  in  the  charita- 
ble exercise  of  the  christian  rights  of  private  judg- 
ment. 

As  a  fair  specimen  of  the  scriptural  authority  for 
the  sentiment,  take  the  following ;  Isa.  66  :  24. 
St.  Mark  9  :  43,  44.  "And  they  shall  go  forth, 
and  look  upon  the  carcasses  of  the  men  that  have 
transgressed  against  me,  for  their  worm  shall  not 
die,  neither  shall  their  fire  be  quenched ;  and  they 
shall  be  an  abhoring  unto  all  flesh."     "And   if  thy 


PUNISHMENT. 


67 


hand  offend  thee,  cut  it  off:  it  is  better  for  thee  to 
enter  into  life  maimed,  than  having  two  hands  to 
go  into  hell,  into  the  fire  that  never  shall  be 
quenched  ;  where  their  worm  dieth  not  and  the 
lire  is  not  quenched." 

The  prophet  in  describing  the  future  and  com- 
plete triumph  of  the  true  worship  of  God,  the  en- 
tire overthrow  of  idolatry,  and  the    punishment  of 
idolators  ;  represents  the  worshippers  of  idols  in  Is- 
rael and  elsewhere,  after  their  defeat  and  the  total 
loss  of  their  cause,  as  being  thrown  into  the  valley 
of  Hinnom,  a  place  on  the  east  of  Jerusalem,  ren- 
dered  extremely   odious  to  the  Jews  by   its  being 
once  the  seat  of  the  idol   Moloch,  where   the    ab- 
horrent, cruel,  and  impious  spectacle,  of  innocent 
children  passing   through  the  fire  for   his  pleasure 
and  in  sacrifice   to  him,  was  for  a   long  time  to  be 
seen  ;  and  there  too  these  impious  Israelites,  idola- 
tors, and  monsters  of  cruelty,   are  to  be   looked 
upon  as  being  consumed  by   the  worm  that  never 
shall  die,   and   tormented  by   the  fire  that  never 
shall  be  quenched.     And  our  Lord  forewarned  his 
followers  that  it  would  be  better  for  them  to  deny 
themselves  the  enjoyment  of  advantages,  gains  and 
pleasures,  dear  to  them  as   a   right   hand,   eye,  or 
foot,  provided  they    led  them  to  offend  against  the 
gospel,  than  to  enjoy  them  here,  and  thereby  bring 
upon  themselves  the  punishment  of  a  future  state, 
expressed   by  the   lively   and  strong  metaphors  of 


68  DURATION    OF 

the  fire,  and  worm,  used  by  the  prophet.  For 
the  better  understanding  of  these  metaphors,  let  it 
be  remarked  that  the  valley  of  Hinnom  was  subse- 
quently to  the  days  of  the  prophet,  and  in  the 
times  of  our  Saviour,  used  as  a  place  of  punish- 
ment in  which  men  were  burnt  alive,  or  cast  there 
to  be  consumed  by  worms  ;  and  that  the  worm  and 
the  fire  are  the  two  agents,  by  whom  the  bodies  of 
those  men  are  consumed.  Both  are  therefore  used 
by  Christ  and  the  prophet  as  figurative  expressions 
to  denote  the  punishment  of  the  wicked  in  a  future 
state.  By  the  repeated  assertion  that  the  worm 
shall  not  die,  we  learn  that  it  will  not  be  interrup- 
ted in  the  consumption  of  the  body  on  which  it 
preys,  until  it  hath  completed  its  work.  The  fire 
is  unquenchable  by  those  who  are  cast  into  it,  and 
shall  not  be  extinguished  by  any  other  ;  and  hence 
1%  will  certainly  accomplish  the  object  for  which  it 
was  kindled- 

Those  who  understand  these  metaphors  in  any 
other  light  than  this,  seem  not  to  have  examined 
this  subject,  for  in  the  valley  of  Hinnom  the  worm 
died  when  its  food  failed,  and  the  pile  on  which 
human  sacrifices  were  burnt  to  Moloch  was  often 
extinguished.     Newcome. 

That  the  phrase  unquenchable  fire,  upon  which 
so  much  stress  is  always  laid  in  the  argument  for 
endless  misery,  does  not,  in  its  scripture  use,  de- 
note a  fire  which  shall  never  cease,  is  most  certain. 


PUxMSHMEM. 


69 


as  will  appear  by  reference  to  the  following  passa- 
ges.    Lev.  6,  13.      Isa.  34,  9— 11.     Jer.  17,  27. 
and  Ezek.   20,  45 — 48;  and   others.      Wherein 
Jehovah  declares   the   fire   shall   ever  be   burning 
upon  the  alter,  it  shall  never  go  out ;  that  he  will 
kindle  a  fire  in  Jerusalem,   which  shall   never  be 
quenched ;  that   every  green  tree  and  every  dry 
tree  in  the  beautiful   forests  of  the   south  shall  be 
consumed,   and  the  flaming  flame  shall  not     be 
quenched  ;   and  that  the   streams  of  Bozrah   shall 
be  turned  into  pitch,  and  its   dust  into  brimstone, 
and  the  land  thereof  become  burning  pitch  ;  and  it 
shall    not    be     quenched    night    nor  day.      Now 
although  the  fire   was  never  permitted   to  go  out 
upon  the  altar  of  God,  while  that  alter  stood  :  yet 
with  the   overthrow  of  the  altar,  the  fire  ceased. 
And  notwithstanding  the  devoted  inhabitants   of 
Jerusalem  could  not  quench   the  fire  that  consum- 
ed their  Temple,   city,  and   adjacent  country,  and 
therefore  by  them  the  fire  was  unquenchable,   yet 
having   accomplished  the  destruction    of  these  ob- 
jects of  their  solicitude,  it  has  ages  since  been  ex- 
tinct. 

Hence,  the  metaphorical  representations  of  fu- 
ture punishment  derived  from  Gehenna,  contain 
no  proofs  of  the  unceasing  duration  of  that  punish- 
ment, nor  does  the  connexion  or  scope  of  the  pas- 
sages before  us,  from  our  Lord  or  his  prophet,  re- 
quire us  so  to  understand  them. 


70  DURATION   OF 

The  next  authority  which  we  propose  to  consid- 
er, is  the  oft  repeated  assertion  of  oar  Saviour,  St. 
Matt.  25,  46.  'These  shall  go  away  into  everlast- 
ing punishment,  but  the  righteous  into  life  eternal.' 
The  strength  of  the  argument  from  this  passage, 
if  indeed  there  be  any  strength  in  it,  is  drawn  from 
the  meaning  of  the  term  everlasting,  assumed  to 
be  that  of  endless  ;  and  its  application  to  the  hap- 
piness of  the  righteous  as  well  as  to  the  misery  of 
the  wicked,  and  that  in  the  same  passage,  by  way 
of  an  antithesis. 

This  term,  together  with  those  of  eternal,  forev- 
cr,  and  forever  and  ever,  are  confessed  to  be  of 
the  same  meaning,  and  to  be  translated  from  words 
of  the  same  stock,  in  the  Hebrew  of  the  old,  and 
the  Greek  of  the  new  testament.  What  that  mean- 
ing is,  has  occasioned  much  inquiry  and  discussion, 
which  have  resulted  in  the  concession  that  in  the 
scriptures  they  are  sometimes  applied  to  things  of 
interminable  perpetuity,  and  sometimes  to  things 
which  endure  for  a  long  time,  for  an  indefinite  pe- 
riod, which  is  all  we  ask.  This  concession  has 
been  made  by  the  ablest  writers,  who  are  at  the 
same  time  advocates  for  the  infinite  perpetuity  of 
punishment,  and  therefore  would  never  have  yield- 
ed this  ground,  but  from  the  force  of  the  clearest 
conviction.  Dr.  Adam  Clarke,  and  the  late  Presi- 
dent Edwards,  in  their  writings,  agree  with  pro- 
fessor Stuart,    that  these    terms  denote   a   limited 


PUNISHMENT.  71 

period  when  applied,  as  they  often  are  by  the  sa- 
cred writers,  "to  the  Jewish  Priesthood  ;  to  the 
Mosaic  ordinances  ;  to  the  possession  of  the  land 
of  Canaan ;  to  the  hills  and  mountains ;  to  the 
earth;  to  the  time  of  service  to  be  rendered  bv  a 
slave ;  and  to  many  other  things  of  a  like  nature." 

Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  we  advocate  the  lim- 
ited or  finite  meaning  of  everlasting,  chiefly  on  ac- 
count of  its  favorable  influence  upon  the  doctrine 
of  the  restoration ;  for  if  it  were  not  understood 
thus,  it  would  be  impossible  to  reconcile  the  old 
and  new  testament  together,  and  to  harmonise  the 
scriptures.  If  the  everlasting  priesthood  of  Aaron 
had  been  endless  ;  it  could  never  have  been  suc- 
ceeded by  the  priesthood  of  Christ,  which  was  af- 
ter the  order  of  Melchisedeck.  If  the  everlasting 
ordinances  of  the  law  had  been  of  unceasing  per- 
petuity and  force,  they  could  never  have  given 
place  to  the  more  simple  and  spiritual  institutions 
of  the  Gospel ;  nor  if  everlasting  punishmnet  be 
endless,  can  it  ever  be  followed  by  the  "restitution 
of  all  things"  as  promised  by  the  holy  prophets. 

Now  if  as  thus  admitted,  and  for  such  good 
reasons,  the  term  everlasting  be  sometimes  used 
to  denote  a  limited  period  ;  then  it  can  never  in 
any  case,  of  itself,  prove  any  thing  to  which  it  is 
applied  to  be  interminable,  and  therefore  it  does 
not  prove  the  punishment  of  the  wicked  to  be 
such.     To  make  this  clear,  let  us  take  the    excel- 


il  DURATION     OF 

lent  rule  given  by  the  Editor  of  Brown's  Diction- 
ary of  the  Bible,  for  understanding  the  words  eter- 
nal, everlasting,  and  forever.  "  These  words  must 
be  understood  according  to  the  nature  of  the  sub- 
ject concerning  which  they  are  used,  and  accord- 
ing to  the  connection  of  the  places  in  which  they 
occur."  By  this  rule  it  appears  that  we  are  nev- 
er to  admit  everlasting  as  meaning  endless,  except 
the  subject  concerning  which  it  is  used,  be  known 
to  be  endless  in  its  own  nature,  or  proved  to  be  so, 
by  something  else.  Now  punishment  is  not  end- 
less in  its  own  nature  ;  therefore  everlasting,  appli- 
ed to  it  in  the  text,  does  not  prove  it  to  have  that 
meaning. 

To  prove  that  the  punishment  in  the  text,  is 
not  in  its  nature  endless,  let  it  be  noted  that  the 
word  rendered  punishment  signifies  chastisement, 
or  correction,  such  as  parents  use  with  their  child- 
ren, hence  it  tends  to  exhaust  the  source  from 
whence  it  springs,  and  aids  the  restoration  of  the 
sufferer,  and  hence  the  passage  before  us,  awful  as 
it  sounds  to  the  ear,  is  rather  a  proof  of  the  hy- 
pothesis of  the  universal  restoration,  than  of  the 
opposite  sentiment. 

Again  it  has  been  urged  in  favor  of  the  perpetui- 
ty of  punishment,  that  it  is  placed  over  against  the 
happiness  of  the  righteous  antithetically,  and  that 
the  duration  of  the  happiness  of  the  one,  and  the 
punishment    of  the  other,  are    expressed  by  the 


PUNISHMENT. 


73 


same  term  ;  and  therefore  that  if  everlasting  means 
endless  in  one  case,  it  means  equally  so  in  the 
other.  To  this  it  may  be  answered,  that  it  ap- 
peared to  be  rather  the  object  of  our  Lord  to  pre- 
sent to  the  view  a  contrast  of  the  general  subjects 
of  happiness  and  misery,  than  to  prove  their  equal 
duration  ;  and  therefore  he  employed  an  indefinite 
term  to  denote  their  continuance,  leaving  us  to 
form  such  opinions  of  the  duration  of  the  one  and 
the  other,  as  the  Scriptures  authorise  us  to  enter- 
tain. 

When  we  consider  to  how  many  different  sub- 
jects the  word  everlasting  is  applied  in  the  sacred 
volume,  and  how  many  different  and  at  the  same 
time  indefinite  periods  of  time  it  is  employed  to 
denote  ;  we  certainly  shall  not  think  it  strange 
that  Christ  applied  it  to  the  misery  of  the  wicked* 
and  to  the  happiness  of  the  righteous.  Nor  can  I 
see  the  least  reason  or  necessity  for  supposing  it  to 
have  the  same  meaning  in  the  two  cases.  The 
subjects  with  which  it  is  connected  differ  in  every 
other  respect,  and  why  should  we  think  them  of  the 
same  duration  ?  Again,  the  word  everlasting  does 
not  govern  the  character  of  the  subject  to  which  it 
is  applied,  but  the  character  of  the  subject  governs 
its  meaning,  as  so  applied. 

If  for  instance,  forever  be  applied  to  the  exist- 
ence of  God,  it  means  without  beginning  and  with- 
out end,  because  he  is  without  beginning  of  days 

10 


74  DURATION     OF 

or  end  of  life  ;  but  if  the  same  word  be  applied  to 
the  time  a  Jewish  servant  was  required  to  serve 
his  master,  it  means  merely  as  long  as  he  should 
live.  How  very  different  are  the  meanings  of  this 
same  word  in  these  two  cases ;  and  from  what 
does  that  difference  arise  ?  Answer,  from  the 
great  difference  between  the  subjects  of  its  appli- 
cation, the  Deity  and  the  slave.  What  can  be 
more  different  than  are  happiness  and  misery  ? 
The  one  originates  with  God,  the  other  in  the  sin- 
fulness of  men  ;  why  then  should  they  be  alike 
enduring,  seeing  God  delights  in  the  one,  but  takes 
no  pleasure  in  the  other  ?  It  will  avail  nothing  to 
say  that  everlasting  is  connected  with  future  hap- 
piness and  misery,  and  that  in  the  same  verse  ;  and 
therefore  it  must  mean  as  long  in  the  one  as  the 
other  case. 

There  is  a  similar  case  of  the  same  word  being 
applied  twice  in   the   same   sentence   to   different 
things,   and  having  two   very    different    imports. 
Hab.  3.  6  :  "And  the  everlasting  mountains  were 
scattered,   and   the  perpetual   hills  did  bow;  his 
ways  are  everlasting!"  yet   who  from    seeing  in 
this  passage  that    everlasting  is  in   the   same   sen- 
tence applied  to  the  mountains  and  to  the  ways  of 
God,  could  reasonably  conclude  that  the  ways  of 
God  and  the  mountains  will  be  of  the  same  dura- 
tion, when  the  one  must  from  the  very  nature  of 
the  case  continue  strictly  to  eternity,  and  the  oth- 


PUNISHMENT.  75 

er  can  stand  only  for  a  limited  time,  being  destined 
to  be  brtmght  low  ? 

We  come  then  to  this  conclusion,  that  the  wick- 
ed shall  be  punished  according  to  their  deserts, 
and     the    righteous    rewarded     according  to  the 
laws  of  Christ's  kingdom  ;  and  that  there  is  nothing 
in  the  nature  or  circumstances  of  tire  case,  which 
requires  us  to  attach  to  the  term  everlasting,  as  ap- 
plied to  punishment  in  St.  Matt.  25,46,  the  idea  of 
endless.     Should  it  be  thought  that  by  this  conclu- 
sion we  leave  the  happiness  of  the  righteous  with- 
out sufficient  proofs  of  its  endless  continuance ;  as 
from  the  above  reasoning  some  persons  may  choose 
to  say  that  future  happiness  is  not  in  its  nature  in- 
terminable, and  therefore  everlasting  when  applied 
to  it  does  not  mean   endless,   and  this  being  the 
strongest  proof  of  its  durability,  it  may  come  to  an 
end   as  well  as  misery, — to  this  it  may  be  replied, 
that  the  most  conclusive  proofs  of  the   eternity   of 
future  happiness,  are  not  found  in  the   application 
of  everlasting  or  any  other  term,  used  in  the  scrip- 
tures to  express  the  duration  of  punishment ;   and 
for  two  reasons,   first  because   there   are  stronger 
terms    used    in  connection  with  happiness,   than 
are  found  connected  with  misery,  and  second,  be- 
cause other  circumstances  show  it  to   be   endless. 
1.  God  declares  that  the  righteous  shall  not  be 
confounded  world    without  end ;  that  the  saints 
have  in  heaven  an  inheritance  incorruptible ;  that 


76  DURATION     OF 

they  cannot  die  any  more  ;  for  they  are  equal  unto 
the  angels  ;  and  that  they  shall  have  afar  more  ex^ 
ceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory.  See  Isa.  45, 
17.—1.  Pet.  1,  4.— St.  Luke  20,  36.-2.  Cor.  4, 
17.  Where  in  all  the  bible  is  it  said  of  the 
misery  of  the  wicked,  that  it  shall  be  endless,  or 
continue  ivorld  icilhout  end,  or  that  the  weight 
thereof  is  far  exceeding  eternal,  as  it  is  here  affirm- 
ed of  the  happiness  of  the  redeemed  ?  But  second, 
we  depend  not  so  much  on  these  and  many  other 
equally  strong  expressions  and  forms  of  speech, 
made  use  of  to  denote  the  permanency  of  the 
saints'  felicity,  (but  are  never  applied  to  misery) 
as  we  do  upon  their  union  to  Christ:  so  that 
while  he  lives,  they  shall  continue  in  happy  life  ; 
for  Christ  is  made  Priest  by  the  power  of  an  endr 
less  life,  and  he  says  to  his  disciples,  because  I  live 
ye  shall  live  also ;  therefore  when  we  see  him  we 
shall  be  like  him,  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is. 
And  again,  their  happiness  and  life  in  heaven 
flows  from  the  infinite  source  of  goodness  as  its 
fountain,  and  hence  it  can  never  cease ;  but  this 
can  never  be  said  of  misery  and  death. 

Our  Lord's  remark  concerning  Judas,  the  un- 
happy man  who  betrayed  him,  St.  Matt.  26,  24; 
'it  had  been  good  for  that  man  if  he  had 
not  been  born,'  has  been  supposed  to  furnish  an 
argument  for  the  endless  misery  of  the  wicked. 

To  this  it  is  sufficient  to  reply,  that  this  language 
of  Christ  is  proverbial ;  and  that  such  a  tremen- 


PUNISHMENT.  77 

dous  doctrine  cannot  be  supposed  to  be  founded 
on  the  solitary  use  of  a  Jewish  proverb.  The  im- 
port of  this  saying  seems  to  be  this,  that  his  pun- 
ishment would  be  more  than  a  balance  for  all  the 
blessings  of  this  life,  so  that  he  would  have  been 
a  gainer,  by  passing  immediately  from  his  birth  to 
his  grave  ;  for,  to  suppose  that  our  Lord  intended 
by  it,  to  say  that  if  God  had  been  good  to  him  he 
would  not  have  conferred  upon  him  his  existence, 
(the  only  view  which  can  favor  the  doctrine  of  his 
eternal  perdition)  would  be  an  impeachment  of 
the  Divine  goodness. 

Another  passage  which  has  been  much  relied 
upon  as  a  proof  of  the  doctrine  under  considera-^ 
lion,  is  that  found  in  2  Thes.  1  :  9.  "Who  shall 
be  punished  with  everlasting  destruction  from  the 
presence  of  the  Lord,  and  from  the  glory  of  his 
power.."  That  we  may  learn  what  St.  Paul  in- 
tended by  these  words,  let  us  consider  that  they 
and  their  connection  were  addressed  to  the  church 
at  Thessalonica:  while  under  a  grevious  persecu- 
tion from  those  who  believed  not  the  gospel.  The 
principal  object  of  the  whole  passage  was  to  en- 
courage and  comfort  the  "brethren"  under  all  their 
"tribulations,"  first,  by  assuring  them  that  they 
should  be  accounted  worthy  of  the  kingdom  of 
God  for  which  they  were  suffering  such  tribulation, 
and  therein  should  find  rest  with  the  apostles  and 
others  who  remained  faithful  to  the  end.     Second, 


78  DURATION    OF 

by  assuring  them  that  it  would  be  a  righteous 
thing  ivith  God  to  recommence  tribulation  to  their 
persecutors,  at  the  time  when  the  Lord  Jesus 
should  be  revealed  from  heaven  in  flaming  fire, 
(the  symbol  of  Divine  Glory)  with  his  mighty  an- 
gels, to  give  rest  to,  and  to  be  glorified  in  all  them 
that  believe,  and  also  to  punish  with  everlasting 
destruction  them  that  obey  not  the  gospel. 

From  this  general  view  of  the  scope  of  the  pas- 
sage, it  appears  (1,)  that  this  destruction  is  future, 
and  will  take  place  at  the  time  when  Christ  shall 
come  in  glory  to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead  at 
his  appearing  and  kingdom;  (2,)  that  the  destruction 
does  not  signify  annihilation,  as  some  have  suppo- 
sed, for  it  is  called  "tribulation"  by  the  apostle,  see 
verse  6th  ;  (3,)  that  it  will  be  a  righteous  recom- 
pense for  the  trouble  they  have  given  to  the  saints. 
There  is  nothing  therefore  in  the  nature  of  the 
ease  which  requires  the  punishment  to  be  endless, 
but  on  the  contrary,  as  the  "trouble"  they  had  giv- 
en was  limited,  so  it  would  rather  seem  that  in 
reason  and  justice,  their  "trouble"  in  return,  to  the 
righteous,  should  also  be  limited.  But  not  to  in- 
sist on  this,  we  would  farther  say,  the  argu- 
ment from  the  term  everlasting  in  this  text,  has 
already  been  fully  answered  ;  and  close  our  obser- 
vations on  this  class  of  scripture  proofs  with  the 
single  remark,  that  everlasting  does  not  naturally 
and  necessarily  imply  that  the     punishment     to 


PUNISHMENT.  79 

which  it  is  applied  will  be  endless,  nor  do  the 
words  destruction,  punishment,  or  fire,  or  any  two 
of  them  united,  imply  the  doctrine. 

We  come  next  to  notice  those  passages  in  the 
New  Testament,  where  our  Saviour  speaks  of  the 
wicked  under  the  metaphors  of  a  tree  "hewn  down 
and  cast  into  the  fire,"  of  chaff  burnt  up  "with 
unquenchable  fire,"  of  bad  fish,  taken  in  the  net 
only  to  be  "cast  away,"  and  of  foolish  virgins, 
against  whom  the  door  of  mercy  is  shut.  These 
Scriptures  have  been  much  employed  in  support 
of  the  irrecoverable  loss  of  the  wicked ;  and  the 
challenge  has  been  made  with  much  assurance-, 
"when  the  fruitless  tree  is  burnt  up,  who  shall  re- 
store it  again  !  when  the  chaff  is  burnt  up  with 
unquenchable  fire,  who  will  be  able  to  restore  itl" 
and  so,  also,  of  the  bad,  cast  from  the  gospel  net, 
and  of  the  foolish  virgins  against  whom  the  door 
of  grace  is  closed.  The  whole  force  of  the  seenv- 
ing  argument  from  these  passages,  arises  from  the 
literal  meaning  of  these  figures  of  speech,  and  the 
natural  impossibility  there  is  of  restoring  the  tree 
or  chaff  to  their  former  state,  when  once  they  are 
burnt ;  but  not  at  all  from  their  metaphorical  use, 
for  there  is  no  such  impossibility  with  God,  to  re- 
store sinners  after  having  punished  them.  This 
will  appear,  and  the  whole  argument  be  conclu- 
sively answered,  if  we  refer  to  St.  Paul's  language 
and  argument  found  in  the  eleventh  chapter  to  the 


80  DURATION  OF 

Romans;  where  he  speaks  of  the  unbelieving  Is- 
raelites under  the  metaphor  of  branches  broken  off 
and  rejected.  Now  nothing  can  be  more  obvious 
than  it  is,  that  the  very  characters  here  styled  bran- 
ches by  St.  Paul,  are  by  our  Lord  called  trees, 
chaff,  &-c.  and  as  he  affirms,  God  is  able  to,  and 
will  graft  them  again  into  their  own  olive  tree,  and 
that  the  receiving  of  them  shall  be  life  from  the  dead, 
and  so  all  Israel  be  saved ;  therefore  we  cannot 
understand  our  Saviour  in  the  above  passages  as 
teaching  the  impossibility  of  the  restoration  of  the 
very  same  characters,  whom  St.  Paul  says  shall 
be  saved. 

Another  ground  of  defence  for  the  endless  tor-* 
ment  of  the  wicked,  is  divine  justice.  Those 
who  assume  this  ground,  reason  thus  ;  because  siri 
is  infinite  in  respect  to  the  object  against  which  it  is 
committed,  therefore  it  deserves  an  infinite  punish- 
ment." But  to  this  it  is  replied,  that  if  for  this 
reason  all  sins  are  infinite  as  to  their  demerit,  then 
the  demerit  of  all  sins  must  be  equal,  and  so  there 
must  be  equal  reason  for  the  pardon  of  all  sins  ; 
for  the  demerit  of  no  sin  can  be  more  than  infi- 
nite. And  besides  this,  it  from  hence  follows, 
that  God  cannot  render  to  every  man  according  as 
his  works  shall  be  ;  because,  although  they  commit 
innumerable  sins  ;  he  can  only  punish  them  for 
one ;  as  they  cannot  receive  a  punishment  which 
is  more  than  infinite.     The  great  error  in  this  ar- 


PUNISHMENT.  81 

gument  consists  in  the  supposition  that  sin  is  infi- 
nite, which  is  absurd  ;  because  it  is  the  act  of  a 
finite  creature  ;  and  therefore  can  be  no  more  than 
a  finite  act,  whatever  may  be  the  aggravation  of 
its  circumstances.  Hence,  the  conclusion  is  ir- 
resistable,  that  as  sin  is  limited,  being  the  act  of 
an  agent  of  limited  powers  ;  neither  reason  nor 
justice  can  require  an  unlimited  or  endless  punish- 
ment, as  such  punishment  would  not  be  according 
to  his  works. 

The  last  source  of  its  defence  which  we  shall 
mention,  is  that  of  reason.  It  is  said  to  be  rea- 
sonable that  we  should  be  punished  according  to 
our  departures  from  the  line  of  duty  here,  and 
therefore  it  will  be  equally  so  that  we  should  con- 
tinue to  be  punished  by  the  same  rule  so  long  as 
we  shall  continue  to  be  sinners,  which  will  be  al- 
ways ;  and  hence  our  sufferings  must  be  perpetual 
and  without  end.  To  this  we  answer,  that  we  do 
not  admit  several  things  here  taken  for  granted  : 
first,  that  men  will  continue  to  sin  time  without 
end  ;  second,  that  there  will  be  no  means  of  grace, 
or  space  for  repentance  beyond  the  present  life  ;  and 
third,  that  the  only  design  of  punishment  is  to  sat- 
isfy the  demands  of  divine  justice,  and  of  course 
never  to  be  employed  as  an  instrument  or  auxilia- 
ry of  the  sinner's  reformation.  Could  these  things 
be  shown,  the  inference  of  endless   misery  would 

follow  ;  but  those  scriptures  which  speak  of  Christ 

11 


82  DURATION     OF 

as  taking  away  the  sin  of  the  world,  and  being 
the  propitiation  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world, 
plainly  forbid  the  idea  of  its  endless  continuity  ; 
and  the  numerous  passages  which  declare  that  the 
severest  judgments  of  God  shall  result  in  the  sin- 
ner's knowing  and  confessing  the  Most  High,  and 
those  which  place  all  punishment  under  the  gra- 
cious government  of  the  Mediator,  who  will  sub- 
due all  beings  and  powers  to  himself,  and  subse- 
quently resign  his  kingdom  to  the  Father  in  per- 
fect subjection  to  his  holy  and  blessed  will  ;  * 
clearly  prove  the  fallacy  of  limiting  the  work  of 
grace  to  the  present  life,  or  of  asserting  that  the 
only  design  of  punishment  is  the  satisfaction  of 
justice  ;  and  hence  the  argument  built  on  these 
premises  necessarily  falls  to  the  ground,  and  rea- 
son, as  alleged,  is  not  for,  but  against  the  doctrine 
that  misery  will  have  no  end.  Not  only  this,  but 
the  places  above  referred  to,  with  many  others 
which  might  be  quoted  had  we  time,  strongly  im- 
ply the  emendatory  character  and  design  of  punish- 
ment, and  this  is  farther  strengthened  by  the  uni- 
versal admission  that  the  retributions  of  God  are  in 
many  cases  salutary,  and  if  as  the  Scriptures  as- 
sure us,  there  is  no  respect  of  persons  with  him, 
then  they  must  prove  so  in  all  cases ;  and  if  the 
punishment  be  salutary,  then  under  its  continuance 
men  must  finally  cease  to  commit  sin,   and  conse- 

*  2  Cor.  5,  10.     Rev.  14,  10.     1  Cor.  15,  24—28. 


PUNISHMENT.  83 

quently  cease  to  be  punished.  Now  from  this  ex- 
amination of  the  doctrine  of  punishment,  we  come 
very  naturally  to  the  conclusion  that  the  punish- 
ments denounced  in  the  sacred  writings  against  sin- 
ners, are  not  endless,  and  therefore  not  opposed 
to  the  doctrine  of  the  final  and  universal  restoration, 
but  rather  in  favor  of  that  most  desirable  and  glori- 
ous hypothesis. 

Having  thus  answered  this  most  important  ob- 
jection, but  whether  satisfactorily  or  not,  the  hear- 
er is  left  to  decide ;  we  will  now  close  with  a 
short  reference  to  the  reasons  for  believing  that 
future  punishment  is  limited  in  degree  and  dura- 
tion, by  the  number  and  aggravations  of  the  crimes 
for  which  it  is  inflicted. 

We  believe  it .  to  be  thus  limited,  because  it 
harmonises  much  better  with  the  infinite  love  and 
goodness  of  God,  as  revealed  in  the  gospel  and 
attested  by  the  Holy  Spirit  within  us ;  because  it 
accords  much  more  perfectly  with  the  general  scope 
and  design  of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  and  the  numerous 
means  which  it  employs  for  the  salvation  of  the 
world  :  because  it  is  perfectly  consistent  with  that 
justice  which  lies  at  the  foundation  of  divine  gov- 
ernment, prescribing  equal  laws,  and  securing  the 
rights  of  God,  and  the  rights  of  mankind  :  because 
it  is  the  only  view  of  punishment,  which  can  ren- 
der it  salutary  to  men,  and  conducive  to  the  wil- 
ling subjection  of  all  minds  to  the  will  of  God ;  and 


84  DURATION     OF 

lastly,  because  it  harmonises  with  all  the  attributes 
of  Deity,  the  promised  triumph  of  Christ  over  sin 
and  death,  and  will  issue  in  the  ascriptions  of  glo- 
ry and  praise  to  the  righteous  Judge  of  all  the 
earth,  by  the  happy  millions  of  the  human  race. 

My  friends,  being  fully  impressed  with  a    sense 
of  how  deeply  the  great  question  of  this  evening's 
discussion   concerns   the    Divine    Character,    the 
reputation  of  the  early  christians  and  martyrs,  the 
success  and  prevalence  of  the  holy  scriptures   and 
of  genuine  Christianity  ; — of  the  deep   interest  you 
feel  for  yourselves   and    fellow   creatures   in  this 
great  subject ;  and  for  myself  being  perfectly  con- 
vinced that  neither  the  Bible,  the  justice  of  God, 
or  the  dictates  of  enlightened  reason,    sustain   the 
doctrine  of  the  endless  perpetuity  of  sufferings  for 
any  of  the  human  family,  but  that  they   perfectly 
accord  in  giving  their  united  authority  to  the  sup- 
port of  a  future  limited,  emendatory,  and  righteous 
judgment  of  God,  which  will  result  in  the  bowing 
of  every  knee  to  God,  and  the  confession  of  every 
tongue     to     Christ ;     I     therefore      submit    this 
whole  subject,  with  what  has  been  said  upon  it,  to 
your  best  feelings  and  unbiased  judgment   in  the 
fear  of  God,  for  your  prayerful  consideration,  pray- 
ing that  a  careful  search  of  the    scriptures  and  the 
super-human   light   and   wisdom   from    the  Holy 
Spirit,    may  guide   you   to  a   right   decision,   and 
that   decision   lead    you    to   feel    more  true   rev- 


PUNISHMENT.  85 

■erence  for  God,  more  filial  fear  of  his  dis- 
pleasure, more  sacred  regard  for  the  Holy  Bible, 
and  more  genuine  sympathy  for  mankind  ;  and  to 
cherish  a  more  ardent  love  to  Christ,  the  great 
Restorer  of  the  world,  and  a  more  devout  faith  in 
his  religion,  which  has  the  promise  of  the  life  that 
now  is,  and  that  which  is  to  come. 


LECTURE    V. 

~»»©@®««- 

ANOTHER  OBJECTION  CONSIDERED. 

TITUS  II.  11,  12. 

"FOR  the  grace  of  god  that  bringeth  salvation,  hath  ap- 
peared TO  ALL  MEN,  TEACHING  US,  THAT  DENYING  UNGODLI- 
NESS AND  WORLDLY  LUSTS,  WE  SHOULD  LIVE  SOBERLY,  RIGHTEOUS- 
LY   AND    GODLY    IN    THIS    PRESENT    WORLD." 

The  marginal  reading  of  the  eleventh  verse  is  to 
be  preferred,  not  on  account  of  its  being  more  fa- 
vorable to  our  views,  but  as  expressing  the  mean- 
ing of  the  apostle  more  clearly.  The  reading  re- 
ferred to  is  this  :  the  grace  of  God  that  bringeth 
salvation  to  all  men,  hath  appeared,  teaching  us, 
that  denying  ungodliness  and  worldly  lusts,  we 
should  live  soberly,  righteously  and  godly  in  this 
present  world.     If  the  grace  of  God,  exhibited  in 


CONSIDERED.  87 

the  gospel,  had  in  the  days  of  the  apostles  appear- 
ed to  all  men,  it  must  have  been  in  some  very  re- 
fined and  spiritual  sense,  seeing  many  had  never 
heard  of  it ;  but  that  it  had  then  appeared  to  the 
apostles  and  christians  of  that  day,  and  was  de- 
signed to  carry  in  its  progress  through  the  world 
the  glad  tidings  of  salvation  to  the  whole  human 
race,  teaching  them,  as  it  progressed,  to  abandon 
all  false  religion,  and  to  live  in  obedience  to  God, 
is  perfectly  consistent  with  the  spirit  and  genius  of 
Christianity,  and  gives  an  easy  and  consistent  view 
of  the  passage.  Should  any  choose  to  abide  by 
the  authorised  rendering,  it  will  make  no  differ- 
ence for  or  against  the  salvation  of  all  men  ;  for  as 
the  grace  of  God  bringeth  salvation,  in  every  sense 
in  which  it  hath  appeared  to  all  men,  salvation 
must  have  appeared  to  and  for  them. 

St.  Paul  seems  to  employ  in  the  text,  a  most 
beautiful  and  striking  metaphor  taken  from  the 
sun,  which  is  seldom  noticed.  As  the  sun  appears 
or  shines  out  from  the  east  upon  the  darkness  that 
broods  over  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  commences 
by  his  diurnal  rotation  upon  his  own  axis,  and  his 
revolution  in  his  orbit,  his  course  of  successively  im- 
parting light  and  its  thousand  blessings  to  the 
whole  creation,  so  the  gospel  of  the  grace  of  God, 
has  shined  out,  and  will  successively  enlighten, 
sanctify,  and  bless  the  inhabitants  of  every  part 
and  region  of  the  world,    and    in    Heaven's  great 


88  ANOTHER    OBJECTION 

year,  it  will  finish  its  course  by  bringing  all  flesh 
to  see  the  salvation  of  God. 

It  is  the  leading  sentiment  of  the  passage  be- 
fore us,  that  the  same  grace  that  brings  salvation 
to  men,  teaches  them,  and  tends  to  produce  in 
them,  the  habits  of  piety  to  God,  benevolence  and 
justice  to  their  fellow  men,  and  of  personal  sobrie- 
ty and  purity  in  the  present  life  as  a  preparation 
for  the  glory  and  happiness  of  a  future  state,  and 
consequently  that  all  false  religions  tend,  either 
directly  or  remotely,  to  form  and  strengthen  op- 
posite habits,  and  to  disqualify  men  for  future 
happiness.  This  sentiment  is  likewise  supported 
by  the  general  voice  of  Scripture.  "  Ye  shall 
know  the  truths  and  the  truth  shall  make  you  free" 
"sanctify  them  through  thy  truth ;  thy  word  is 
truth."  The  true  faith  ivorks  by  love  and  puri- 
fies the  heart — and  overcomes  the  world.  The 
christian  is  required  to  yield  his  members  ser- 
vants to  righteousness  unto  holiness :  and  called 
unto  virtue  and  to  glory.  By  this  shall  all  men 
know  that  ye  are  my  disciples,  if  ye  have  love  one 
to  another  ;  for  love  ivorketh  no  ill  to  its  neigh- 
bor, and  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law.  The  good 
tree  is  known  by  its  fruit ;  for  the  fruits  of  the 
Spirit  are  in  all,  love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering, 
gentleness,  meekness,  goodness  and  faith.  While 
on  the  other  hand,  it  is  affirmed  with  equal  truth, 
in  vain  do  ye  ivorship  me,  teaching  for  docirine 


CONSIDERED  89 

the  commandments  of  men — evil  communications 
corrupt  good  manners — and  they  that  soiv  to  the 
fleshy  shall  of  the  flesh  reap  corruption.  There- 
fore, although  we  would  give  all  due  credit  to  the 
sincerity  of  those  who  are  honestly  in  error,  yet 
we  cannot  for  a  moment  agree  with  those  who  af- 
firm that  all  doctrines,  whether  true  or  false,  are 
equally  salutary  in  their  influence  upon  the  hearts 
of  those  who  believe  them,  and  upon  the  moral 
condition  of  the  society  in  which  they  are  promul- 
gated. Nor  do  the  scriptures  warrant  the  belief 
that  errors  in  sentiment  have  no  influence,  ami  are 
therefore  harmless.  Still  less  do  they  countenance 
that  pretended  charity,  which  says  there  are  as 
good  men — men  as  strongly  fortified  in  virtue,  and 
as  thoroughly  guarded  against  temptation,  among 
infidels  and  unbelievers,  as  are  to  be  found  among 
christians.  If  we  appeal  to  history,  it  will  cor- 
roborate the  prophetic  testimony  of  the  scriptures, 
by  giving  us  the  most  satisfactory  proofs  that 
Christianity  has  already  greatly  improved  the  po- 
litical, moral,  social  and  religious  condition  of 
mankind . 

What  if  there  were  some  bright  stars,  that  shone 
to  relieve  the  darkness  of  the  long  and  dreary  night 
of  pagan  superstition,  whose  light  borrowed  a  pe- 
culiar lustre  from  the  surrounding  darkness?  Is 
not  their  light  perfectly  eclipsed  by  the  rising  sun, 

whose  day  we  live  to  see?     But  if  it  be  inquired 

12 


90  ANOTHER    OBJECTION 

why  the  christian  character  has  not  arisen  to  a 
much  higher  standard  of  perfection  than  we  can 
as  yet  claim  for  it  among  professing  christians? 
this  is  our  answer  :  because  Christianity  has,  through 
ignorance  or  design,  been  adulterated  and  mixed 
with  the  errors  and  darkness  of  former  times, 
which  have  served,  in  some  degree,  to  neutralize 
its  heavenly  influence.  And  hence,  one  method  of 
detecting  error,  is  to  trace  its  influence  upon  the 
mind  that  receives  it,  and  thus  to  expose  its  licen- 
tious tendency  in  society.  On  this  ground,  that 
is,  its  licentious  tendency,  our  distinguishing  doc- 
trine, the  final  and  universal  restoration,  has  been 
seriously  objected  to  ;  and  therefore  we  cheerfully 
put  it  upon  trial,  that  its  guilt,  or  its  innocence  of 
the  charge  may  appear,  as  compared  with  its  oppo- 
sing sentiment. 

The  vast  importance  of  the  Restoration  to  the 
hopes  and  the  happiness  of  mankind,  and  the  equal 
importance  of  the  objection  to  it,  which  is  now  un- 
der consideration,  claim  for  this  discussion  a  most 
devout  and  serious  attention.  And  that  we  may 
proceed  understandingly,  we  shall  present  a  concise 
view  of  the  doctrine  objected  to,  the  objection  to 
it,  and  then  endeavor  to  obviate  and  remove  the 
objection. 

First,  then,  the  doctrine  is  briefly  this,  viz.  that 
God,  having  created  the  human  race  to  do  his 
will,  and  to  enjoy  his  care  and  goodness,  and  they 


CONSIDERED.  "91 

having  rebelled  against  his  law,  and  forsaken  his 
service  to  their  own  condemnation  and  ruin,  was 
pleased  in  conformity  to  his  original  design  to 
make  known  by  the  gospel,  his  plan  of  infinite 
grace  for  their  salvation  or  restoration,  to  the  ser- 
vice and  happiness  for  which  they  were  at  first 
created,  by  turning  them  from  idolatry  and  con- 
firming them  in  the  habits  of  practical  holiness  of 
heart  and  life — that  for  the  accomplishment  of  this 
most  glorious  purpose  of  grace,  he  instituted  the 
kingdom  and  government  of  the  Mediator,  extend- 
ing from  the  commencement  of  the  gospel  to  the 
resignation  of  said  kingdom  in  perfect  subjection, 
at  the  consummation  of  all  things — that  he  has 
constituted  all  the  human  race  the  moral  and  ac- 
countable subjects  of  the  government  of  Christ, 
not  only  while  living  here,  but  also  in  a  future 
state,  for  all  their  secret  thoughts,  feelings  and 
actions,  wherever  exercised  or  committed — that 
therefore  Christ  will  here  or  hereafter,  and  previ- 
ous to  the  resignation  of  his  kingdom,  reward  eve- 
ry man  according  to  his  virtue,  and  punish  the 
wicked  according  to  their  neglect  of,  or  disobedi- 
ence to  that  gracious  gospel  that  bringeth  them  sal- 
vation, and  that  he  will  continue  so  to  punish 
them,  till  they  by  a  sincere  and  hearty  repentance 
towards  God,  find  peace  and  pardon  in  believing  ; 
and  hence,  punishment,  in  all  cases,  being  not  an 
end  of  Christ's  government,  but  a   mean,  cannot 


92  ANOTHER    OBJECTION 

be  endless  ;  for  having  accomplished  its  design,  it 
will  of  necessity  subside  and  give  place  to  the 
salvation  brought  to  light  by  the  grace  of  God. 
From  this  short  statement  of  the  Restorationists' 
views  in  regard  to  the  purposes  of  God,  the  issue 
of  the  Redeemer's  reign,  and  of  the  design  and 
character  of  punishment ;  it  will  be  seen  that  their 
sentiments  do  not  subvert  but  establish  the  scrip- 
ture doctrine  of  salvation  by  grace,  and  at  the 
same  time  furnish  sufficient  checks  to  vice,  and  the 
most  efficient  motives  to  reformation  and  the  prac- 
tice of  virtue  in  the  present  world.  Second,  to 
this  however  it  has  been  objected  ;  and  many 
have  alleged,  that  these  sentiments  do  not  suffi- 
ciently guard  men  against  the  allurements  of  sin, 
and  the  indulgence  of  sinful  pleasure,  ambition, 
and  revenge  ;  nor  give  to  them  the  highest  mo- 
tives to  self-denial,  submission  to  Christ,  and  to 
the  obedience  of  the  gospel—  that  it  does  not 
sufficiently  impress,  alarm,  and  awaken  the  con- 
science of  sinners,  to  induce  their  repentarce,  re- 
formation, and  return  to  God,  with  full  purpose 
of  heart  to  serve  him  forever  ;  and  hence  that  it 
cannot  prove  to  be  practically  the  power  of  God 
unto   salvation. 

These  objections  are  supported  by  too  reasons, 
1.  because  the  Restoration  .extends  the  work  of 
grace  beyond  the  present  life ;  and  supposes  that 
jhose  who  leave  this  world  impenitent  and   unbe- 


CONSIDERED.  93 

lieving,  will  ultimately  be  subdued  &nd  reeonciled 
to  God.  2-  because  it  presupposes  punishment 
to  be  limited  in  degree  and  duration  to  the  char- 
acter of  the  sinner,  the  aggravated  circumstances 
of  his  guilt,  and  the  obduracy  of  his  heart ;  and 
hence  however  long  and  severe  it  may  be,  it  will 
at  last  come  to  an  end  and  the  sufferer  be  made 
happy.  Therefore  it  is  said  the  sinner  will  be 
encouraged  to  continue  in  his  sinful  course,  saying 
•to  himself,  if  I  do  not  repent  and  reform  here,  I 
shall  have  the  opportunity  of  doing  so  hereafter  ; 
and  if  the  punishment  which  I  shall  merit  comes 
upon  me,  yet  it  will  not  be  interminable  and  so 
1  shall  be  happy  after  all  let  me  do  as  I  will. 
But  if  there  were  no  future  days  of  grace  held  up 
to  view,  and  the  punishment  were  to  be  repre- 
sented as  strictly  endless,  he  would  have  no  such 
excuses  to  make.  Having  thus  clearly  and  fully 
stated  the  objection  and  the  reasoning  on  which 
it  is  founded,  we  would  here  only  remark  for  the 
present,  that  the  abuse  of  any  religious  sentiment 
is  not  to  be  urged  against  its  use  ;  for  if  it  be,  the 
whole  doctrine  of  grace  must  be  abandoned. — 
3.  In  our  reply  to  this  specious,  and  by  many 
thought  to  be  an  unanswerable  objection,  we  shall 
inquire  into  the  motives  by  which  men  are  gov- 
erned in  their  conduct,  and  the  influence  which 
limited  and  endless  punishment  are  respectively 
calculated  to  exert  upon  those  motives. 


94  ANOTHER    OBJECTION 

The  motives  by  which  the  conduct  of  men  are 
governed,  may  be  reducedto  three,  fear,  hope,  and 
complacency. 

As  far  as  free  moral  agents  permit  their  self-de- 
termining power,  their  caprice,  self-will,  or  their 
sense  of  right,  to  be  influenced  in  their  decisions 
by  motives,  so  far  they  may  be  said  to 
be  governed  by  those  above  named.  The  fear  we 
allude  to,  is  the  apprehension  and  dread  of  evil, 
sufferings,  or  punishment,  which  will  be  incurred 
by  the  perpetration  of  vicious  actions,  as  the  natural 
consequences  of  sin,  the  awards  of  society,  or  the 
inflictions  of  Deity,  for  the  violations  of  his  will ; 
and  whether  these  threatened  evils,  sufferings,  or 
punishments,  relate  to  the  body,  the  mind,  or  the 
condition,  or  be  apprehended  in  the  present,  or 
future  state,  they  form  motives  or  inducements  to 
abstain  from  such  actions.  Hope  is  the  pleas- 
urable expectation  of  good,  natural  or  spiritual,  in 
the  present  or  future  world,  to  be  obtained  as  the 
result  of  good  actions,  done  for  the  benefit  of  men 
and  in  obedience  to  the  will  of  God  ;  and  as  such 
becomes  a  powerful  motive  or  excitement  to  the 
practice  of  religion  and  virtue,  from  the  first  mo- 
ment it  is  entertained.  Complacency,  is  that 
pleasure  and  satisfaction  which  the  mind  of  a  good 
man  experiences  in  performing  noble  and  worthy 
actions,  the  keeping  of  a  good  conscience,  and  in 
doing  the  will  of  God  from  a  conviction  that  it   is 


CONSIDERED.  95 

perfectly  good  and  holy ;  and  hence  it  is  the  hap- 
piest motive  which  can  influence  the  good  man  to 
persevere,  and  differs  from  hope  in  that  it  is  more 
immediately  from  himself,  and  refers  especially 
to  the  present  ;  whereas  hope  regards  the  future. 

These  motives  act  upon  all  persons  in  exact 
proportion  to  their  intelligence,  aversion  to  suffer- 
ings, and  desire  for  happiness,  influencing  them  in 
all  the  duties  and  transactions  of  life.  The  vi- 
cous  will  therefore  be  naturally  most  influenced  by 
their  fears,  the  virtuous  by  their  hopes,  and  the 
perfectly  good  by  their  complacent  feelings  ;  and 
hence  when  these  motives  all  unite  and  act  to  one 
end,  their  influence  is  the  most  powerful,  and 
when  the  last  only  in  connexion  with  gratitude  and 
assurance  is  sufficient,  as  will  be  the  case  in  heav- 
en, then  the  subject  will  be  the  most  perfectly 
happy,  and  obedience  be  bliss  itself. 

But  fear,  to  be  salutary,  must  not  be  superstitious, 
that  is,  founded  upon  imaginary  evils,  such  as  have 
no  existence  in  fact,  such  as  God's  word  does  not 
denounce  upon  sinners — it  must  not  be  slavish,  a 
mere  dread  of  punishment,  without  any  conscious- 
ness of  its  justice,  and  our  own  deserts,  for  that 
degrades  the  mind  and  hardens  the  heart — it  must 
not  be  excessive,  without  degree  or  measure,  such 
fear  is  despair,  the  palsy  of  the  soul,  which  pre- 
vents the  possibility  of  reformation,  and  places  the 
unhappy  victim  beyond  the   reach    of  hope.     Nor 


96  ANOTHER  OBJECTION 

must  hope,  to  be  efficient,  be  presumptive,  found- 
ed merely  on  our  wishes  ;  not  delusive,  having  no 
foundation  in  reason,  fact,  or  the  promises  of  God  ; 
such  for  instance  as  the  hope  of  sinning  wilfully 
and  escaping  a  just  punishment,  without  sincere 
Fepentance  and  faith  in  Christ  ;  the  hope  of  arriv- 
ing at  angelic  perfection  in  the  present  life  ;  or  of 
living  our  whole  lives  here  in  sin,  and  going  im- 
mediately to  glory.  Such  hopes,  being  unsupport- 
ed by  the  scriptures,  tend  to  encourage  pride,  ar- 
rogance, and  a  bold  contempt  of  piety  and  pray- 
er, benevolence  and  faith  in  Jesus  ;  and  therefore 
instead  of  being  motives  and  incentives  to  virtue 
and  religion,  are  while  they  last,  productive  of  the 
very  opposite;  hence  he  that  is  flattered  by  them  will 
be  sorely  disappointed,  and  the  staff  on  tvhich  lit 
leans,  shall  pierce  his  hand.  It  is  then  a  mistake 
not  only  to  suppose  that  hopes  such  as  banish  all 
fear  from  the  sinner,  are  most  favorable  to  reli- 
gion ;  but  it  is  equally  so,  to  conceive  that  the 
greatest  degree  of  fear,  that  which  banishes  every 
ray  of  hope  from  the  breast,  can  favor  the  cause 
of  reformation  and  righteousness. 

Fear,  to  be  healthful,  morally  speaking,  must 
he  mixed  with  love  and  hope,  and  of  consequence 
the  punishment  which  excites  it  must  be  just,  that 
is,  proportioned  to  the  sins  of  the  sufferer,  and  the 
aggravated  circumstances  under  which  they  were 
committed,  both  in  degree  and  duration.      Jt  must 


QONSJDEREB  97 

be  reasonable,  such  as  an -unperverted  conscience 
cannot  but  approve  as  right ;  it  must  be  benevo- 
lent, tending  to  the  emendation  of  the  sinner,  such 
as  a  good  father,  looking  to  its  effects,  could  con- 
sistently administer  upon  the  children  of  his  care 
and  love  ;  it  must  be  scriptural,  such. as  is  clearly 
supported  by  the  general  voice  and  spirit  of  reve- 
lation, that  the  believer  may  have  no  doubt  of  its 
truth  ;  it  must  be  certain  in  all  cases  but  that  of 
genuine  repentance  and  reformation,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  prodigal  son  in  the  gospel,  and  in  that  case 
it  must  be  sure  of  pardon,  in  the  name  and  for  the 
sake  of  Jesus,  who  died  "  the  just  for  the  unjust, 
that  he  might  bring  us  unto  God."  It  must  be  suffi- 
cient, (not  to  expiate  guilt,  for  that  it  neither  can 
nor  was  it  intended  ever  to  do,)  but  to  subdue  and 
humble  the  sinner  ;  and  therefore  it  must  be  con- 
tinued till  it  has-  produced  that  effect,  and  then 
cease  forever,  that  grace  may  henceforth  reign 
through  righteousness  unto  eternal  life  by  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord. 

This  scheme  of  punishment,  making  it  just, 
reasonable,  scriptural,  certain  to  the  impenitent, 
while  he  continues  to  be  such,  remissible  only  to 
the  penitent ;  and  certain  of  accomplishing  its  de- 
sign before  it  can  cease,  and  certain  to  cease  when 
the  sinner  is  humbled,  will  not  fail  to  exert  a  most 
salutary  influence  on  the  mind  and   conscience   of 

the  impenitent    sinner,  and  be  a   most   powerful 

13 


98  ANOTHER  OBJECTION 

auxiliary  to  his  repentance  and  reformation.  It 
commends  itself  to  his  sense  of  justice,  his  reason 
and  conscience,  and  to  his  own  best  interest ;  and 
being  sustained  by  the  plain  letter  of  the  scrip- 
tures, it  will  readily  command  his  full  and  un-* 
doubting  belief;  and  his  faith  thus  established  will 
excite  his  fear  and  apprehension  of  an  evil  which 
will  far  more  than  balance  the  pleasure  he  can 
promise  himself  by  the  gratification  of  his  sinful 
propensities.  And  the  fear  thus  founded  on  such 
clear  and  high  authority,  will  affect  his  reason  and 
understanding  rather  than  his  excited  imagination, 
and  cause  him  to  dread  the  commission  of  sin 
rather  than  the  hand  that  punishes  it ;  and  conse- 
quently it  will  be  neither  superstitious  nor  slavish, 
but  healthful  and  vigorous,  awakening  to  a  sense 
of  real  danger,  quickening  and  strengthening  ev- 
ery resolution  and  effort  to  escape  by  the  only  door 
of  hope ;  and  therefore  this  view  of  punishment, 
and  the  system  of  doctrine  and  practice  properly 
connected  with  it,  cannot  be  licentious  in  their 
tendency.  This  is  the  view  entertained  by  Res- 
torationists,  of  the  scripture  doctrine  of  punish- 
ment, and  its  tendency  upon  the  moral  condition 
of  mankind. 

The  doctrine  which  limits  rewards  and  punish- 
ments to  the  present  life,  is  liable  to  the  most  se- 
rious objections,  as  being  not  only  unfounded  in 
scripture,  and  inconsistent  with  reason  and  justice  ; 


CONSIDERED.  99 

but  as  leaving  vice  without  a  sufficient  check,  and 
virtue  without  an  effectual  support ;  and  must 
therefore  be  licentious  in  its  influence  upon  socie- 
ty, being  neither  sufficient  to  give  energy  to  the 
moral  government  of  Deity,  or  to  secure  the  or- 
der and  peace  of  community.  And  although  the 
advocates  of  this  sentiment  arrogantly  claim  for  it 
the  highest  character  for  being  benevolent  and 
emendatory,  yet  nothing  can  be  more  manifest  to 
our  senses  and  experience  than  it  is,  that  in  a  great 
variety  of  cases  it  utterly  fails  to  produce  the  least 
visible  emendation  of  heart  or  life  in  multitudes 
who  notwithstanding  it,  live  and  die  in  sin,  and 
without  the  least  appearance  of  penitence. 

A  still  more  objectionable  feature  necessarily 
connected  with  this  doctrine  is  this,  that  rewards 
and  punishments  are  not  only  limited  to  the  pres- 
ent state,  but  that  they  are,  by  the  Divine  Coun- 
sel, limited  to  the  natural  effects  or  consequences 
of  vice  and  virtue,  in  those  who  practice  them  ; 
which  amounts  to  a  denial  of  the  existence  of  re- 
wards and  punishments,  in  the  common  accep  ation 
of  those  terms.  Let  this  sentiment  be  followed 
up  to  its  result,  and  it  will  repeal  the  penalties  of  all 
laws,  human  and  divine  ;  and  leave  vice  uninter- 
rupted and  virtue  unaided  by  the  Deity  or  human 
governments,  in  their  struggle  for  the  mastery  in 
society. 

This  modern  opinion  has  been  adverted    to, 


100  ANOTHER    OBJECTION 

merely  that  the  reader  may  see  and  feel  the  differ- 
ence between  that  and  the  sentiment  above  stat- 
ed, and  the  difference  of  their  spirit  and  influence 
upon  good  and  bad  men,  in  the  world  ;  for  4t  is 
the  chief  object  of  this  part  of  the  lecture  to  com- 
pare our  view  of  future  limited  punishment  with 
that  taken  by  those  who  believe  it  endless  ;  that 
by  so  doing  we  may  the  better  judge  of  their  com- 
parative influence,  and  thereby  show  that  ours  is 
free  from  the  just  charge  of  being  licentious. 

If  future  punishment  be  without  end,  it  must 
be  entirely  different  from  t*hat  which  is  experi- 
enced in  the  present  life,  which  is  confessedly  e- 
mendatory  in  its  design  ;  and  therefore  he  that 
does  not  so  improve  it  as  to  be  made  better  by  its 
administration,  increases  his  guilt.  But  to  sup- 
pose such  a  difference  in  the  character  and  design 
of  God's  moral  government,  in  the  present  and  fu- 
ture states,  is  not  supported  by  scripture  or  sound 
reason,  as  we  understand  them ;  and  hence  the 
sentiment  can  have  but  a  slender  hold  upon  the 
conscience — if  it  be  vindictive,  and  expressive  of 
unalterable  displeasure  in  God,  it  will  naturally 
harden  the  heart,  and  the  fear  of  it  will  be  slavish 
and  degrading  to  the  soul,  depressing  the  mind  by 
degrees  to  unutterable  despair  ; — if  the  fear  of 
interminable  misery,  unalleviated  by  hope  or  a 
sense  of  the  Divine  compassion,  once  takes  pos- 
session of  the  mind,  it  will  render  it  weak,  gloomy, 


CONSIDERED.  101 

and  superstitious.     In  proof  of  this  position,  we 
may  successfully  appeal  to  the  heathen  who  worship 
Gods,  malicious  and  revengeful,  and  to  many  cases 
of  persons  within  our   own  knowledge,  who  have 
unfortunately  despaired  of  divine  favor,  and  given 
themselves  up  to  the    dread    apprehension  of  un- 
ceasing anguish,  as  their  certain  and  unavoidable 
doom.     What  if  it  be  said  these  are  extreme   ca- 
ses ?  they  are  the  very  cases  to  try  the    principle. 
Having  thus  stated  the  two  schemes  of  limited 
and  endless  punishment,  and  the  kinds  of  fear  they 
naturally   produce  in    the    human   mind  ;  if   any 
doubt  remains  as  to  which  of  them  will  exert  the 
most  salutary  influence,  let  us  consider  what  it   is 
that  renders  punishment  the  most  effectual  to   re- 
form sinners,   or  to  prevent  the    commission   of 
crime.     Surely  it  is  not  its  endless  duration  ;  be- 
cause the  apprehension  of  sufferings  far  short   of 
endless,  would  be  sufficient  to  deter  any  one  from 
sin.     Who  would   purchase   the  momentary   and 
sensual  delights  of  a  short  and   uncertain   life    of 
pleasure  and  dissipation,  at  the   expense  of  only 
one  thousand  years  of  excruciating  and  unallevia- 
ted  torments  ?  No  one  ;  it  is  not  in  human  nature 
so  to  do.      Much  less  would  he  accept  such    pleas- 
ure upon   the   certain  condition  of  suffering  there- 
for  long  and  uncertain  periods  of  severe  punish- 
ment,  though    he    were  certain  it    would    after- 
wards copae  to  an  end,  and  he  should  be  made  for- 


102  ANOTHER    OBJECTION 

ever  happy  by  the  grace  of  that  Saviour  against 
whom  he  had  sinned.  Then,  it  is  not  the  length 
but  the  certainty  of  sufferings  for  sin,  whether 
limited  or  not,  that  deters  men  from  its  indulgence  ; 
for  to  the  very  same  degree  in  which  punishment 
is  uncertain,  there  is  no  occasion  to  fear  :  and  be- 
sides, we  are  always  prone  to  flatter  ourselves  that 
the  chance  will  be  in  our  favor,  especially  where 
the  allurement  is  great.  Now  for  punishment  to 
be  practically  certain  to  us,  we  must  sincerely  be- 
lieve in  its  truth  ;  for  what  we  do  not  believe,  is 
nothing  to  us.  Which  then  is  capable  of  the  clear- 
est and  strongest  proof?  Surely  that  view  of  pun- 
ishment which  is  most  scriptural,  reasonable,  just, 
and  salutary,  will  most  easily  obtain  the  credence 
of  mankind,  and  by  them  be  deemed  the  most 
certain,  as  coming  from  God.  The  reason  why 
men  are  no  more  restrained  from  sin  by  fear,  is 
not  because  they  believe  in  limited  future  pun- 
ishment, but  because  they  do  not  believe  in 
any ;  that  therefore  which  will  most  readily 
commend  their  belief,  will  have  the  best  influence 
when  preached  to  them.  Nor  is  that  fear  the 
most  effectual  to  check  vice,  and  at  the  same  time 
to  cherish  and  fortify  virtue,  which  is  the  most  in- 
tense, but  that  which  is  most  properly  mixed  with 
hope  ;  so  that  while  we  fear  a  punishment  suffi- 
cient to  subdue  and  humble  us  at  the  feet  of  Christ, 
by  a  sense  of  the  evil  of  sin,  and  a  sincere   and 


CONSIDERED.  103 

hearty  repentance  therefor,  and  at  the  same  time 
leaves  us  the  hope  of  relief  by  that  repentance — 
this,  I  say,  is  the  most  salutary  fear. 

Therefore  as  the  gospel  addresses  men  as  being 
already  sinners,  the  true  secret  of  successful 
preaching  is  that  instituted  by  Jesus  and  his  apos- 
tles, of  so  addressing  the  fears  by  the  denuncia- 
tion of  a  just,  reasonable  and  disciplinary  pun- 
ishment, as  to  prevent  their  continuance  in  sin, 
and  at  the  same  time  so  to  encourage  hope  by  the 
promise  of  pardon  and  reward,  as  to  produce  re- 
pentance and  reformation.  Excessive  fear  discour- 
ages the  sinner,  and  hurries  him  to  despondency ; 
and  fallacious  hope,  without  reformation,  makes 
him  arrogant  and  reckless  in  his  course  of  wicked- 
ness ;  but  a  just  mixture  of  hope  and  fear,  will 
make  him  the  humble,  yet  cheerful,  devoted  and 
spiritual  follower  of  Christ — check  his  propensi- 
ties to  evil,  and  strengthen  his  resolutions  to  good- 
ness— chasten  the  enjoyment  of  worldly  prosperi- 
ty, and  comfort  and  invigorate  the  heart  in  afflic- 
tion and  death  ; — and  hence,  we  come  to  the  con- 
clusion, that  the  doctrine  of  a  future,  just,  and 
salutary  punishment,  connected  with  the  holy  doc- 
trine of  the  final  restoration  of  the  whole  human 
race,  is  not  justly  chargeable  with  being  licentious. 
No  man  in  the  full  belief  of  its  truth,  and  acting 
in  the  presence  of  God,  and  with  reference  to  a 
future  impartial  judgment,   ever  said   to   himself, 


104  ANOTHER    OBJECTION 

because  my  punishment  will  not  be  endless,  there- 
fore I  am  resolved  to  sin  on,  indulge  my  propen- 
sities, and  knowingly  subject  myself  to  the  pains 
of  this  life,  and  the  just  retribution  of  a  future 
state.  And  not  only  this,  but  on  the  other  hand, 
we  are  persuaded  that,  if  properly  taught  and  en- 
forced, it  will  conduce  more  effectually  and  pro- 
perly to  alarm  the  sinner  to  a  just  sense  of  his 
condition  by  a  strong  appeal  to  his  conscience,  and 
also  to  fortify  the  believer,  by  strong  and  certain 
hope,  mixed  with  trembling,  against  all  the  allure- 
ments of  temptation,  than  does  the  less  reasona- 
ble, and,  as  we  have  shown  in  the  previous  Lec- 
ture, the  less  scriptural  doctrine  of  endless  misery. 

That  sentiment  clothes  the  character  of  God  in 
terrors  little  suited  to  the  Father  of  mercies  and 
God  of  infinite,  impartial  grace ;  and  throws 
around  religion  a  saddening  gloom,  which  ill 
comports  with  the  clear  shining  of  the  true  light 
from  heaven,  that  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh 
into  the  world  :  thus  rendering  them  repulsive  to 
the  finer  and  more  manly  feelings  of  the  heart ; 
for  who  could  desire  for  himself  or  for  any  human 
being,  the  solemn  and  awful  reality  of  endless 
woe  ? 

But  the  restoration  gives  to  the  Father  of  the 
Universe  the  most  glorious  character  for  justice, 
mercy,  and  truth, — to  religion  the  most  inviting 
aspect,  and  to  the  human  race  the   most  reasona- 


CONSIDERED.  105 

ble  and  irresistable  motives  to  virtue  and  piety  ; 
and  therefore  we  are  constrained  to  believe  that  it 
will  prove  itself  to  be  the  power  and  grace  of  God 
that  bringeth  salvation  to  all  men,  teaching  all  na- 
tions and  people  to  deny  all  ungodliness  and 
worldly  lusts,  and  to  live  soberly,  righteously,  and 
godly  in  this  present  world. 

14 


LECTURE    VI. 


PROOFS  OF  THE  FINAL  RESTORATION. 

ISAIAH  VIL  3. 

"  And  one  cried  unto  another,  saying,  holy,  holy,  holy  is   the 
lord  ok  hosts  ;  the  whole  earth  is  full  of  his  glory." 

Having  noticed  in  the  previous  lectures,  some  of 
the  principal  objections  frequently  brought  against 
the  doctrine  of  "  universal  restoration  ;"  we  are 
this  evening,  to  commence  the  consideration  of 
the  arguments  and  proofs  in  its  favor,  and  shall  pre- 
sent first,  those  drawn  from  the  Divine  attributes. 
To  qualify  his  servant  Isaiah  for  the  sacred  of- 
fice of  a  prophet,  it  pleased  Jehovah  to  appear  to 
him  in  a  vision,  seated    upon    a   throne  pure   and 


CHARACTER  AND  ATTRIBUTES   OF  DEITY.       107 

exalted,  with  an  heavenly  train  ;  and  when  the 
prophet  beheld,  and  heard  the  seraphim  shouting 
the  praises  of  his  holiness,  immediately  the  whole 
earth  appeared  to  be  filled  with  the  reflected 
splendors  of  his  glory.  And  what  was  the  glory 
of  the  Lord  ?  It  was  the  display  of  his  goodness 
then  about  to  be  made  by  the  spirit  of  prophecy  ; 
for  when  Moses  besought  the  Lord  to  show  him 
his  glory,  the  answer  was,  "  I  will  cause  all  my 
goodness  to  pass  before  thee."  And  his  lips  being 
touched  with  a  live  coal  from  off  the  altar,  he 
spake  thenceforth  of  "the  coming  of  the  just  one/' 
and  of  "  the  glory  that  should  follow." 

By  far  the  most  wonderful  exhibition  of  Di- 
vine goodness  ever  made  to  the  world,  was  made 
in  the  revelation  of  the  great  plan  of  redemption 
by  a  Mediator  ;  and  as  when  Jesus  Christ,  the 
likeness  of  the  Father's  glory,  appeared  to  the 
shepherds  on  the  plains  of  Bethlehem,  a  choir  of 
the  heavenly  hosts  gave  glory  to  God  in  the  high- 
est ;  so  when  his  kingdom  shall  prevail,  and  ev- 
ery knee  shall  bow  to  him  in  humble  reverence, 
then  shall  the  saints  sing  "  alleluiah,  for  the  Lord 
God  Omnipotent  reigneth  ;" — and  thus  too,  when 
the  glorious  "  restitution  of  all  things,"  announced 
by  the  spirit  of  prophecy,  and  confirmed  by  all  the 
holy  prophets  since  the  world  began,  shall  have 
been  completed,  then  will  every  inhabitant  of  the 
earth,  unite  with  saints  and   angels,  to   give  glory 


108  PROOFS  DRAWN  FRO$l  THE 

to  him  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  to  the 
Lamb,  forever  and  ever,  for  the  holiness,  goodness, 
and  happiness  enjoyed  by  the  Universe. 

The  proposition  to  be  sustained  is  this,  viz. 
that  the  whole  human  race,  after  being  judged  ac- 
cording to  their  works,  will  be  restored  to  the  Di- 
vine favor,  by  the  riches  of  grace,  through  genu- 
ine faith,  repentance,  and  the  exercise  of  a  truly 
christian  temper  and  disposition  of  heart ;  and  the 
grounds  of  its  support,  are  the  character  and  at- 
tributes of  Deity,  considered  in  their  relation  to 
the  human  race. 

For  the  sake  of  reasoning  more  clearly  on  this 
subject,  let  us  suppose  that  the  scriptures  declare 
to  us  the  being  and  perfections  of  Deity,  but  that 
they  are  silent  as  to  the  destiny  of  mankind;  in 
that  case,  being  left  to  reason  only  from  a  knowl- 
edge of  his  perfections  and  relation  to  us,  what 
would  be  the  conclusion  at  which  we  should  most 
naturally  arrive  on  the  subject  ?  For  this  purpose, 
let  us  now  contemplate  the  being,  perfections,  and 
relation  of  God  to  man. 

In  reference  to  God  I  would  then  say,  with  the 
profoundest  reverence,  he  is  that  eternal,  independ- 
ent, self-existent  being,  whose  purposes  and  ac- 
tions are  from  himself ;  who  is  absolute  in  his  do- 
minion, and  pure  and  spiritual  in  his  nature  ;  who 
though  he  is  indescribable  in  his  essence,  and  in- 
conceivable in  the  mode  of  his    existence,  illimit- 


CHARACTER  AND  ATTRIBUTES   OF  DEITY.      109 

able  in  his  immensity,  and  fully  known  only  to 
himself;  yet  we  are  instructed  by  reason  as  well 
as  scripture  to  ascribe  to  him  certain  attributes, 
among  which  are  the  following ; 

1.  Infinite  power;  an  energy  to  do  and  cause 
others  to  do,  whatever  he  wills  should  be  done  ; 
by  which  he  at  the  first  created  the  worlds,  and 
upholds  all  things,  visible  and  invisible. 

2.  Infinite  wisdom  ;  that  grand  attribute  of  his 
nature  by  which  he  knows  all  things  possible,  de- 
vises whatever  will  promote  his  own  glory,  and 
the  greatest  good  of  his  creatures,  and  adopts  all 
such  means  as  are  best  suited  to  its  accomplish- 
ment. 

3.  Infinite  goodness  ;  that  absolute  perfection 
which  comprises  perfect  holiness,  justice,  truth, 
and  mercy,  to  all  the  subjects  of  his  creation  and 
care. 

Now  to  impress  upon  our  minds  as  distinct  an 
idea  as  possible  of  this  infinitely  glorious  and  per- 
fect Being,  let  us  reverently  contemplate  him  un- 
der the  figure  of  the  human  mind,  originally 
created  in  his  image ;  not  indeed  as  it  now  is,  but 
pure,  spiritual,  and  free  from  weakness  or  sin,  with 
all  its  faculties  and  virtues  extended  to  infinity — 
let  us  thus  think  of  him  as  inhabiting  eternity,  pro- 
ducing the  universe  by  the  instantaneous  exercise  of 
his  will, beholding  at  once  all  things  past, present  and 
future—  looking  upon  the  heart  and  its  most  secret 


1  10         PROOFS  DRAWN  FROM  THE 

purposes,  and  speaking  to  the  soul  in  a  voice  that 
awakens  and  electrifies  all  its  powers  ;  and  who, 
yet,  is  an  invisible  but  infinite  energy,  that  sur- 
rounds, protects,  and  upholds  us.  Thus  perhaps, 
we  shall  arrive  at  the  most  familiar,  and  at  the 
same  time,  the  most  correct  impressions  of  the  na- 
ture and  attributes  of  God. 

The  Divine  perfections  of  power,  wisdom,  and 
goodness,  are  wonderfully  displayed  in  the  works 
of  creation  and  providence.  The  immensity,  varie- 
ty, and  perfection  of  the  works  of  creation,  give  the 
most  exalted  idea  of  that  power  which  created  "  all 
things,  visible  and  invisible,"  and  upholds  and  cir- 
cumscribes the  universe.  Psalms  139:  8,  11,  14. 
Heb.  1  ;  3.  Acts  17;  24,  28.  If  we  look  at 
the  order  of  nature,  the  harmony  of  the  heavenly 
bodies,  the  change  of  the  seasons  and  the  alterna- 
tions of  day  and  night — the  nice  adaptation  of 
part  to  part,  and  of  means  to  ends,  in  the  natural 
and  moral  world,  we  cannot  but  admire  the  wis- 
dom that  contrived,  as  well  as  the  power  that  exe- 
cuted, and  exclaim  with  the  devout  Psalmist,  "how 
manifold  are  thy  works  !  in  wisdom  hast  thou 
made  them  all."     Psalms  104;  24. 

Nor  when  we  observe  the  general  tendency  of 
all  things  to  promote  the  objects  of  benevolence  ; 
the  provisions  made  for  the  support,  defence,  and 
comfort,  of  the  creatures  of  every  element  and 
climate  ;  or  the  perfect  manner  in  which   the  sen- 


CHARACTER  AND  ATTRIBUTES  OF  DEITY.  'Ill 

ses  of  all  creatures  are  suited  to  the  objects  with 
which  they  are  conversant,  so  as  to  derive  not 
only  use,  but  also  pleasure,  each  from  their  ap- 
propriate objects — that  the  mind  and  heart  are  so 
constituted  as  to  derive  succor  from  truth  and  vir- 
tue, and  happiness  from  the  good  it  imparts  to 
others — I  say  when  we  carefully  observe  all  these 
benevolent  arrangements,  in  the  works  and  provi- 
dence of  God,  we  are  constrained  to  confess  and 
adore  the  creator,  as  being  "  good  unto  all,  and 
his  tender  mercies  over  all  his  works."  Psalms 
145:  9. 

Each  of  these  attributes  being  unlimited,  they 
must  all  be  present  in  every  act  of  God,  from  the 
greatest  to  the  least ;  especially  must  they  all  con- 
cur in  fixing  and  bringing  about  the  destiny  of 
man,  which  from  its  connection  with  the  hap- 
piness of  Angels  and  the  glory  of  God,  must  be  by 
far  the  most  illustrious  display  of  wisdom,  power, 
and  goodness,  the  universe  can  ever  witness.  Pow- 
er therefore  will  perform  nothing  which  is  not  di- 
rected by  wisdom,  and  wisdom  can  direct  nothing 
but  what  goodness  approves.  So  that  the  power 
of  God,  mighty  and  glorious  as  it  is,  will  never 
cast  even  a  sparrow  on  the  ground,  without  the 
consent  of  his  heavenly  wisdom,  and  the  holy  ap- 
proval of  his  infinite  goodness.  Although  one  at- 
tribute of  the  Divine  Nature  may  be  more  con- 
spicuous in  certain  acts  of  God's  government,  than 


112  PROOFS  DRAWN  FROM  THE 

the  others,  as  for  instance,  in  the  punishment  of 
sinners,  the  justice  of  God  is  specially  manifested, 
while  in  the  pardon  of  the  penitent  his  mercy 
seems  to  triumph  ;  yet  all  must  be  supposed  as 
consenting  to  each  act  of  his  government,  so  that 
there  is  ever  the  most  perfect  harmony  between 
the  Divine  Attributes.  The  perfect  consistency 
and  harmony  of  the  perfections  of  Deity,  is  most 
wonderfully  illustrated  in  the  ever  adorable  plan 
of  redemption,  by  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  reveal- 
ed in  the  Gospel,  by  which  God  and  all  his  per- 
fections will  be  glorified.  To  show  this,  will  be 
the  pleasurable  and  interesting  task  of  future  lec- 
tures ;  but  for  the  present,  we  shall  content  our- 
selves with  the  consideration  of  the  relation  which 
subsists  between  the  leading  attributes  of  God, 
above  mentioned,  and  the  human  race. 

It  is  obviously  true  that  the  relation  between 
the  glorious  ruler  of  the  universe  and  every  individ- 
ual of  the  whole  race  of  mankind  as  creatures  is  the 
same  ;  he  being  their  creator,  preserver,  and  the 
disposer  of  their  destiny.  In  the  highest  possible 
sense  he  is  their  Father  ;  they  having  each  and 
equally  derived  from  him  their  being,  capacities, 
means  of  improvement,  and  resources  of  enjoy- 
ment. He  only  does  or  can  protect  and  sustain 
them.  It  requires  the  same  power  to  create 
one  as  another  of  the  human  family  ;  and  the 
same  to    preserve    them    from    one    moment   or 


CHARACTER  AND  ATTRIBUTES  OF  DEITY.       113 

hour  to  another,  as  it  did  to  create  them  at  first. 
And  hence  the  phenomena  of  our  preservation  ex- 
hibits the  constant  exercise  of  creative  and  Omnip- 
otent power,  wisdom  and  goodness ;  for  should 
these  be  suspended  for  a  single  moment,  we  should 
fall  into  annihilation,  and  cease  to  be.  How  true 
is  it  then,  that  in  the  highest  sense  "  we  live., 
move,  and  have  our  being"  in  God,  as  the  result  of 
his  relation  to  us  as  our  constant  and  equal  pre- 
server, and  most  holy  and  bountiful  benefactor! 
Every  added  moment  of  our  existence  brings  us 
new  proofs  of  his  infinite  care  and  love,  and  should 
excite  us  to  renewed  gratitude  and  obedience  ;  and 
thus  make  our  duty  to  him  and  to  each  other,  as  the 
common  sharers  of  his  bounty,  the  richest  pleas- 
ure of  life. 

Not  only  isjGod  good,  and  equally  good  to  man- 
kind, as  their  creator  and  preserver;  but  also  as 
their  moral  ruler  and  governor.  Having  created 
them  free,  moral,  and  accountable  beings,  they  all 
hold  the  same  general  relation  to  his  moral  gov- 
ernment, i.  e.  each  is  responsible  in  exact  propor- 
tion to  the  moral  power  given  him,  and  to  the  op- 
portunities afforded  him  for  its  improvement  ;  so 
that  one  can  as  easily  perform  his  duty  as  an- 
other. 

It  should,    however,    be    considered   here,  that 

God's  moral  government  is   to   be    viewed    as    a 

whole,  and  as   extending   over  this   and   a    future 

15 


114  PROOFS  DRAWN  FROM  THE 

state.  Taking  in  then,  the  whole  course  of  its 
administration,  all  the  moral  as  well  as  natural  at- 
tributes of  God  will  be  fully  developed  towards 
mankind,  so  that  with  him  there  will  be  "no  re- 
spect of  persons."  If  therefore  there  be,  as  there 
certainly  is,  a  difference  in  the  degrees  of  happi- 
ness enjoyed  by  men  in  the  present  world,  during 
the  intermediate  state,  and  at  the  day  of  judge- 
ment ;  this  is  not  because  God  is  not  equally  good 
to  them,  but  because  they  do  not  equally  improve 
the  power  and  blessings  he  has  bestowed  upon 
them. 

Justice,  mercy,  compassion  and  grace,  are  admin- 
istered to  every  man  upon  precisely  the  same  prin- 
ciples, and  with  most  perfect  impartiality  ;  for  that 
which  in  one  man  procures  punishment,  procures 
it  in  the  case  of  every  man  ;  and  that  which  enti- 
tles one  man  to  mercy  and  pardon,  entitles  every 
man  to  like  favor. 

Hence,  mercy,  justice,  and  every  attribute  of  the 
Divine  Nature,  are  extended  to  every  individual  of 
mankind  upon  equal  conditions ;  because  those  at- 
tributes are  infinite,  and  therefore  equal :  and 
hence  upon  the  same  condition  that  one  sinner  can 
be  saved,  all  sinners  may  be  saved  ;  so  that  the 
wisdom  and  perfections  of  God  are  "  without  par- 
tiality." Therefore  it  is  not  true  that  justice  will 
be  glorified  in  the  damnation  of  some  sinners,  and 
mercy  in  the   salvation   of  others  equally  guilty, 


CHARACTER  AND  ATTRIBUTES  OF  DEITY.      115 

and  in  the  same  circumstances.  This  would  sub- 
vert all  our  ideas  of  impartiality  on  the  part  of 
the  divine  government,  and  of  moral  equality  on  the 
part  of  men  as  moral  agents  ;  and  be  opposed  to 
the  plainest  declarations  of  scripture,  and  the 
soundest  dictates  of  reason. 

Hence  by  this  reasoning,  we  are  naturally  and 
irresistably  brought  to  the  conclusion,  that  all  men 
as  the  creatures  of  his  power,  and  as  moral  agents 
or  subjects  of  his  moral  dominion,  are  equally 
the  offspring  of  God,  the  subjects  of  his  care,  and 
the  objects  of  his  love  ;  and  that  their  conduct  is, 
and  ever  will  be,  the  object  of  his  approbation  or 
displeasure,  and  the  subject  of  his  reward  or  pun- 
ishment, according  as  it  is  conformed  or  not  con- 
formed to  his  law.  He  that  created  them  so  fear- 
fully, wonderfully  and  .mercifully,  bestowed  on 
them  his  own  image,  and  gave  them  such  natural 
and  moral  powers,  must  esteem  and  value  them 
not  only  as  his  own  work,  but  for  their  capacities 
to  glorify  and  enjoy  him  and  his  kingdom  forever. 
That  his  esteem  may  be  of  use  to  them,  and  ex- 
cite their  gratitude  to  him,  he  has  constituted  them 
with  their  agency  and  noble  faculties,  so  immedi- 
ately dependent  upon  himself  for  being,  preserva- 
tion ani<  happiness,  that  without  his  constant  aid 
and  help,  they  can  neither  exist  nor  arrive  at  per- 
fect happiness,  after  which  he  has  made  them  so 
earnestly  to  aspire.     And  that  a  sense  of  this  de- 


116         PROOFS  DRAWN  FROM  THE 

pendence  should  not  be  grievious  to  them,  he  has 
required,  and  ever  will  require  them,  and  each  of 
them,  and  that  equally,  to  put  their  trust  in  him  as 
the  guardian  of  their  being,  and  the  benefactor  of 
their  happiness  ;  and  to  bestow  on  him  their  su- 
preme love,  as  their  chief  good,  here  and  hereaf- 
ter :  and  this  requirement  is  the  spirit  of  "  the 
law  and  the  prophets."  Here  let  it  be  noted,  that 
the  requiring  of  all  to  love  and  serve  God,  and  to 
confide  in  him,  is  virtually  a  pledge  that  his  pow- 
er, wisdom  and  goodness,  are  and  will  always  be 
exerted  in  their  favor. 

Such  being  the  character  of  God,  the  nature 
and  tendency  of  his  attributes,  and  their  relation 
to  men  ;  and  such  being  the  nature,  capacities,  de- 
pendence, and  obligations  of  mankind  to  their 
Maker ;  the  question  now  is,  what  destination 
does  reason,  founded  on  these  facts,  teach  us  to 
believe  God  will  assign  to  them  ?  and  will  that  des- 
tination be  the  same  to  all  ? 

Three  dispositions  only  can  be  made  of  men  ; 
they  must  be  finally  happy,  or  miserable,  or  be 
forever  annihilated.  The  power  of  God  is  able 
to  effect  either  ;  but  could  wisdom  and  goodness 
approve  of  perpetual  misery,  or  of  annihilation  ? 
Would  it  be  an  act  of  infinite  wisdom  to  create 
man  with  his  present  capacities,  for  the  purpose  of 
enduring  unceasing  woe  ?  And,  especially,  what 
goodness  would  there  be  displayed  in  the  bestow- 


CHARACTER  AND  ATTRIBUTES   OF  DEITY.      117 

merit  of  existence,  either  for  perpetual   sufferings, 
or  to  be  blotted  out  from  the  universe  as  an  incur- 
able ?  It  is  an  exercise   of  divine  wisdom   to    pro- 
duce good,  and  to  extend  the  sphere  of  virtue,  in- 
telligence and  happiness  ;  but  what  wisdom    there 
can  be  in  creating  intelligent  beings  to  be   loosers 
by  their  existence,  it  would  certainly  be  very  diffi- 
cult to  show  :   and  still  more  so,  to  describe  what 
exhibition  of  goodness  there  would  be,  in  so   do- 
ing.    Nay  to  make  men   miserable,  or    to   annihi- 
late them,  requires  neither  wisdom  nor    goodness  ; 
but  to  secure    them  the  possession  of  endless  ex- 
istence, and  the   enjoyment    of  endless  happiness, 
requires  the  perfection  of  those  attributes,  and  the 
aid  of  infinite  power.     Therefore    if  wisdom   and 
goodness  were  employed  in  the   creation   of  men, 
they   must  have  been   created  for  the    attainment 
and  enjoyment    of  happiness,  as    the    wisest   and 
most  benevolent  destiny  which  could  be  assigned 
them  ;  but  wisdom  and  love  were  employed  in  the 
gift  of  their  existence,  and  therefore  their  destiny 
must  be   happiness,  without  the    mixture    of  evil. 
If  then  God  intended    Adam,  and  in   him,  man- 
kind to  be  happy,  then  he  must  have  had  the  same 
purpose  with   reference   to    each   individual ;  be- 
cause they  all  sustained  the  same  relation  to  him, 
and  each  other.     And  if  he  created  each   individ- 
ual of  the  human  race  for  happiness,  then   all    his 
attributes  must  have  concurred  in  that  design,  and 


118  PROOFS   DRAWN  FROM  THE 

hence  are  pledged  for  its  accomplishment — then 
also  human  agency,  with  the  nature  and  capaci- 
ties of  men,  were  constituted  and  given  with  re- 
ference to  that  design  ;  and  the  whole  moral  gov- 
ernment of  God,  suited  to  its  ultimate  execution  ; 
which  being  the  case,  the  operations  of  justice, 
as  well  as  of  mercy  and  the  other  attributes  of  his 
government,  must  result  in  the  production  of  hap- 
piness and  of  equal  good  to  every  son  and  daughter 
of  Adam. 

Therefore  we  answer  the  above  questions,  by 
saying,  that  just  reasoning,  founded  on  the  divine 
character,  the  divine  attributes,  and  the  nature 
and  equality  of  men,  teaches  us  to  believe  that  the 
design  of  God  in  the  creation  of  Adam  and  each 
member  of  his  posterity,  was  that  he  and  they 
should  be  equally  perfect  in  piety,  virtue  and  hap- 
piness :  and  also  that  notwithstanding  the  intro- 
duction of  sin  by  man,  through  the  perversion  of 
his  agency,  yet  the  moral  government  of  God, 
founded  on  his  holy  perfections,  will  correct  this 
evil,  restore  the  whole  human  family,  and  thus 
carry  into  full  effect  the  glorious  design  of  their 
creation.  And  indeed  we  are  fully  persuaded  that 
there  is  the  same  reason  for  believing  that  all  men, 
without  exception,  will  ultimately  be  saved,  that 
there  is  for  believing  that  any  one  of  them  will 
be.  We  should  therefore,  reasoning  upon  the  at- 
tributes of  God,  as  readily  admit  the  endless  per- 


CHARACTER  AND  ATTRIBUTES   OF  DEJTY.      119 

dition  of  all,  as  of  any  one  of  the  children  of  men. 

Should  it  be  objected  to  this,  that  God,  consist- 
ently with  his  holiness  and  goodness,  administers 
punishment  upon  sinners  in  the  present  world,  and 
therefore  he  may  with  equal  propriety,  as  he  chang- 
es not,  continue  to  do  so  to  eternity ;  we  answer, 
there  is  a  wide  difference  between  the  punishment 
which  God  inflicts  upon  transgressors,  here  or 
hereafter,  as  a  mean  of  subduing  and  reforming 
them,  and  endless  perdition  ;  the  one  promotes  hu- 
man virtue  and  happiness,  the  other  necessarily 
precludes  both,  and  that  to  eternity.  And  hence 
it  does  not  follow  that  the  goodness  of  God,  could 
as  well  admit  the  one  as  the  other  of  these  propo- 
sitions. 

We  proposed  in  this  lecture,  to  show  that  the 
character  and  attributes  of  God,  from  their  equal 
relation  to  all  mankind,  furnish  us  with  strong  rea- 
sons for  believing  in  their  final  and  universal  resto- 
ration to  holiness  and  happiness ;  and  have  we 
not  now  redeemed  our  pledge  ?  And  does  not 
this  view,  reflect  the  highest  glory  upon  the  di- 
vine perfections,  and  present  his  moral  government 
in  such  a  light  as  justly  to  command  the  rever- 
ence, confidence,  and  obedience  of  every  creature  ? 
Most  certainly  ;  since  according  to  it,  God  can  ad- 
mit no  evil  into  the  universe  but  such  as  he  will 
overrule  for  his  own  glory  and  the  good  of  his  ra- 
tional creatures ;  and  since  he  will  administer  no 


120  PROOFS  DRAWN  FROM  THE 

punishment  but  such  as  is  emendatory  in  its  de- 
sign, and  will  be  salutary  in  its  effects,  result- 
ing in  the  subjection  and  obedience  of  the  sinner 
to  the  divine  will. 

To  conclude,  we  are  confirmed  in  the  correct- 
ness of  this  result  to  which  our  reasoning  hath  so 
clearly  brought  us,  because  the  superior  authority 
of  the  scriptures,  as  we  have  shown  in  previous 
lectures,  offers  nothing  against  it — because  there 
is  nothing  in  the  nature  of  our  agency  or  responsi- 
bleness  to  God,  which  opposes  it — and  because  it  is 
sustained  by  the  voice  of  inspiration,  which  assures 
us  that  God  hath  "  made  all  things  for  himself ;" 
that  he  "  will  have  all  men  to  be  saved  and  to  come 
unto  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,"  and  that  he  is 
the  Saviour  of  all  men,"  having  promised  "  the 
restitution  of  all  things  by  the  mouth  of  all  his  holy 
prophets,  since  the  world  began,"  as  we  shall  at- 
tempt more  fully  to  evince  in  future  lectures. 

Moreover,  we  are  persuaded  that  this  viewT  of 
the  plan  of  God,  when  correctly  understood  and 
received  in  the  love  of  it,  will  offer  the  best  incen- 
tives to  sincere  piety,  and  the  most  universal  en- 
couragement to  the  practice  of  virtue  among  men, 
as  moral  and  accountable  agents — that  it  best  com- 
ports with  the  desire  of  those  who  are  most  un- 
der the  influence  of  the  spirit  of  pure  religion,  and 
contributes  most  to  the  happiness  of  good  men  in  the 
present  life  ;  for  what  good  man  can  be   happy   in 


CHARACTER  AND  ATTRIBUTES  OF  DEITY.      121 

seriously  contemplating  the    endless    sufferings    of 
his  fellow  creature* 

But  the  salvation  of  the  world,  by  a  full  display 
of  the  divine  perfections,  will  afford  a  theme  of 
joy  for  eternity,  while  in  acclamations  of  praise 
and  glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  angels  and  the 
redeemed  shall  vie  with  each  other  in  cries  of 
"  holy,  holy,  holy  is  the  Lord  of  hosts  ;  the  whole 
earth  is  full  of  his  glory." 

16 


Lecture  vii. 

PROOFS  OF  THE  FINAL  RESTORATION. 

II.  CORINTHIANS,  V.  14,  15. 

"  FOR  THE  LOVE  OF  G6D  CONSTRAINETH  Us;  BECAUSE  WE  THUS 
JUDGE,  THAT  IF  ONE  DIED  FOR  ALL,  THEN  WERE  ALL  DEAD:  AND 
THAT  HE  DIED  FOR  ALL,  THAT  THEY  WHICH  LIVE  SHOULD  NOT 
HENCEFORTH  LIVE  UNTO  THEMSELVES,  BUT  UNTO  HIM  WHICH  DIED 
FOR  THEM,  AND  ROSE  AGAIN." 

It  is  the  character  of  Christ  which  sheds  over 
the  sacred  pages  such  an  heavenly  lustre  ;  and 
gives  to  them  their  infinite  value  to  the  children 
of  men.  Take  from  the  Bible  the  prophecies, 
history,  doctrines  and  precepts  of  Jesus,and  it  would 
be  little  better  to  sinners  than  a  blank-book — a 
dead  letter ;  but  with    them,  it    is    a   light    from 


MISSION,  WORKS  AND  DEATH  OF  CHRIST.    123 

heaven,  bringing  glad  tidings  of  salvation  to  all 
people.  The  most  important  particulars  in  the 
character  of  our  blessed  Lord,  are  his  mission, 
works,  and  death ;  which,  taken  in  connexion 
with  our  lost  condition,  and  as  forming  the  ground 
of  our  richest  hopes,  for  the  present  and  future 
life,  surpass  all  things  else  in  the  intense  interests 
which  they  awaken  in  the  human  breast. 

Now  that  the  mediation  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 
the  salvation  which  he  came  to  bring,  may  be  the 
more  highly  esteemed  by  us  ;  and  that  his  minis- 
try and  word  may  be  the  less  neglected  by  our 
indifference  ;  let  us  briefly  consider  the  great  ne- 
cessity in  which  we  stand  of  the  aid  and  help  of 
such  a  Saviour. 

The  scriptures  assure  us,  that  although  man  was 
created  for  happiness  and  glory,  yet  all  have  sin- 
ned and  came  short  of  that  glory — that  as  such 
they  were  fallen  in  the  region  and  shadow  of  death, 
with  no  eye  to  pity  and  no  arm  to  save,  being 
without  God  and  without  hope  in  the  world.  Such 
was  the  forlorn  condition  in  which  Christ,  accord- 
ing to  the  authority  of  inspiration,  found  the  whole 
human  race.  Likewise,  the  voice  of  history  de- 
clares the  unhappy  state  of  the  world  in  all  ages 
past,  especially  in  those  before  the  coming  of 
Christ,  by  reciting  the  sad  account  of  the  war  and 
carnage  which  have  desolated  the  earth ;  the  op- 
pressions which  have  made  its   inhabitants  to  ago- 


124       PROOFS  DRAWN  FROM  THE 

nise ;  and  the  crimes  which    have   embittered    all 
the  relations  of  society,  and  the  fountains  of  life. 

From   this  condition,  our  own  experience   suffi- 
ciently shows  us  that  we  could  not  have  rescued  our- 
selves ;  for  we  have  neither  power  to  release  the  soul 
from  the  anguish  of  guilt,  or  the  body  from  the  pains 
and  bondage  of  death.     Therefore,   besides    the 
name  of  Christ,  there  is  not  a  name   given    under 
heaven  whereby  we  could  have  been  saved.     But 
such  being  our  need  of  a  saviour,    God   in  his   in- 
finite compassion  laid  help  for  us  on  "  one  mighty 
to  save,"  and  sent  his  Son  from  heaven  to   release 
us,  and  bring  us  again  "  into  the    glorious    liberty 
of  the  sons  of  God."     This  view    of  the  subject 
should  awaken  in   us    the    warmest   gratitude    to 
Heaven,  the  most  fervent  love  to  Christ,  and  ex- 
cite us  to  a  most  cheerful  obedience  to  the  gospel. 
We  propose  now  to  examine  the  proofs   of  the 
"universal    restoration,"    found    in   the    mission, 
works,  and  death  of  Jesus  Christ. 

First  then,  the  mission  of  Christ ;  for  what  end 
was  he  born  ?  for  what  purpose  was  he  sent  into 
the  world  ?  and  what  will  be  the  result  of  that  re- 
ligion and  system  of  means  which  he  came  to  es- 
tablish on  the  earth  ?  The  purpose  of  God  in 
sending  him  into  the  world,  must  be  either  the 
salvation  of  the  whole  world,  or  a  select  part  of 
it ;  and  therefore  we  adopt  it  as  the  scripture  doc- 
trine that  he  was  sent  to  redeem,    sanctify,    and 


MISSION,   WORKS   AND  DEATH  OF  CHRIST.      VZ3 

finally  save,  the  whole  human  race,  and  that  with- 
out exception. 

This  doctrine  relative  to  the  object    of  Christ's 
mission,  is  supported  by  the  scriptures,  in  numer- 
ous places,  and  by  a  great  variety  of  modes  of  ex- 
pression.    They  assure  us  that  the  mission  of  Je- 
sus was  the  effect  of  God's    love    to    the    world  ; 
"  for  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  on- 
ly begotten  son,  that  whosoever  believeth   iu  him 
should  not  perish,  but  have  eternal  life.     For  God 
sent  not  his  son  into   the    world  to    condemn  the 
world,    but  that  the  world  through  him   might  be 
saved."*     What  greater  proof  of  his  love   to    the 
world  could  God  have  given,  than   was  given    by 
sending  his  son  to  be  its   saviour  !     The  name  Je- 
sus, i.  e.  saviour,  given  to  Christ   by  the   angel   of 
God,  imports  the  nature  of  his   mission,  as    being- 
sent  to  "  save  his  people  from  their  sins."f     The 
first  intimation    of    the    Messiah's    approach,    an- 
nounces   him    as  the    seed   of   the    woman,   who 
shall  bruise  the  head  of  the  serpent  ;J    interpreted 
by  St.  Paul,  in  these  words,  he  shall  "destroy him 
that  had  the  power  of  death,    that  is,  the   devil ; 
and  deliver  them,  who,  through  the  fear  of  death, 
were   all   their    life   time    subject    to   bondage. "| 
Speaking  of  him,  God  says,  by  the  prophet  Isaiah, 
"  I  will  also  give  thee  for    a  light  to  the  Gentiles, 

*St.  John  iii.  16,  17.     |St.  Matt.    i.    21.     JGen.    iii.    15. 

||Heb.  ii.  14,  15. 


126  PROOFS  DRAWN  FROM  THE 

that  thou  mayest  be  my  salvation  unto  the  end  of 
the  earth. "^ 

Jesus  himself  says,   "  I  came  down  from  heaven, 
not  to  do  mine  own  will,  but  the  will  of   him  that 
sent  me.     And  this    is    the   Father's    will    which 
hath  sent  me,  that  of  all  which  he  hath  given   me 
(i.  e.  the  heathen  and  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth) 
I  should  lose  nothing,  but  should  raise  it  up   again 
at  the    last    day."f     And   this  view  of  the  Fath- 
er's will  which  Christ  came  to  do,  agrees  with  St. 
Paul's  interpretation  of  the    will    of   God,  "  who 
will  have  all  men  to  be  saved,  and  to  come   unto 
the  knowledge  of  the  truth. "J     Our  Lord  further 
says,  "  the  Son  of  man   is  come   to  seek  and  to 
save  that  which  was  lost. j|     And    St.    John  pro- 
claims  with   peculiar  emphasis,  "  We  have   seen 
and  do  testify,  that  the  Father  sent  the  Son  to  be 
the   saviour  of  the  world. "ff    These  are  but  a  few 
of  the  passages  which  might  be  quoted    from    the 
sacred  writings,  to  prove  that  the  design  of  our  Sa- 
viour's mission  into  the  world,  was  not  the   salva- 
tion of  a  select  part  only,  but  the  whole  world;  for 
much  of  the  New  Testament,  the    sublimity    and 
benevolence  of  his  doctrines,  the   purity    and    rea- 
sonableness of  his  precepts,  and  the  tendency  of 
his  religion  to  universal  happiness,  might   be   suc- 
cessfully urged  in  its  support. 

^Isaiah  xlix,  6.     fSl.  John  vi.  38,  39.     f  1.  Tim.  ii.  4.  ||St 
Luke  xix.  10.     ft  1-  J°hQ  fr«  14- 


MISSION,  WORKS  AND   DEATH  OF  CHRIST.     127 

Expressive  of  the  high  authority  and  dignity  of 
him  who  came  on  such  a  mission,  legions  of  an- 
gels announced  his  approach,  and  ministered  to 
him,  during  the  whole  course  of  his  ministry  on 
earth,  and  his  return  to  heaven.  And  for  the  fin- 
ishing of  the  mighty  work  of  his  mission,  all  pow- 
er in  heaven  and  earth  was  given  into  his  hands  ; 
so  that  of  his  ability  to  finish  it  there  can  be  no 
doubt. 

We  are  to  notice  some  of  the  most  important 
works  of  Christ,  performed  in  the  progress  of  his 
ministry  on  earth,  in  virtue  of  the  mission  and 
power  given  him. 

To  say  nothing  of  the  ordinary  works  of  our 
Lord,  as  "  he  went  about  doing  good,"  we  may  re- 
mark that  he  performed,  in  the  short  space  of  his 
brief  ministry  among  men,  forty  wonderful  and 
splendid  miracles,  on  forty  different  occasions,  in 
open  day-light,  before  friends  and  enemies,  in  the 
presence  of  the  rulers,  scribes,  and  multitudes  of 
the  people  ;  and  by  these  miracles  did  he  exhibit 
his  complete  power  and  dominion  over  the  in- 
visible world,  by  calling  Moses  and  Elias  from 
thence  to  confer  with  him  on  the  mount  of  trans- 
figuration ;  over  the  natural  world,  by  stilling  the 
tempest  and  calming  the  sea ;  over  the  men- 
tal world,  by  restoring  the  shattered  powers  of  the 
lunatic  ;  over  the  moral  world,  by  forgiving  sin, 
and  removing  the  anguish  of  guilt  from  the  peni- 


128        PROOFS  DRAWN  FROM  THE 

tent  sinner's  conscience  ;  over  the  bodies  of  men, 
by  healing  all  manner  of  diseases  and  raising  up 
the  dead ;  over  demons,  by  casting  them  out  and 
releasing  both  the  body  and  the  soul  from  their 
pernicious  influence.  These  mighty  works  were 
all  done  not  only  by  a  power  manifestly  from  hea- 
ven, but  by  a  sympathy  and  kindness  of  feeling, 
which  wept  at  the  grave  of  Lazarus,  and  at  the  gate 
of  Jerusalem  ;  had  compassion  on  the  wretched 
woman  that  touched  the  hem  of  his  garment ;  com- 
mended in  his  dying  hour  his  mother  to  the  care 
of  a  beloved  disciple,  and  his  murderers  to  the  fa- 
vor of  God,  and  was  nobly  touched  with  the  feel- 
ing of  all  our  infirmities  and  sufferings.  They  were 
therefore  every  one  of  them  miracles  of  divine 
mercy  as  well  as  of  heavenly  power  ;  and  hence 
to  be  regarded  as  practical  proofs  of  the  divinity 
of  his  mission,  and  of  his  perfect  ability  and  dis- 
position to  perform  all  its  duties  for  the  salvation 
of  men,  and  to  the  acceptance  of  the  Most  High. 
Who  that  considers  the  vast  variety  of  the  wonder- 
ful works  of  Christ,  and  places  before  his  mind's 
eye  the  most  splendid  and  gracious  of  them  all,  his 
ascension  into  heaven,  in  the  view  of  men  and  an- 
gels in  a  chariot  of  light,  and  dispensing  as  he  as- 
cended higher,  rich,  inestimable  and  saving  gifts 
to  the  world,  whose  cause  he  ascends  to  plead  be- 
fore the  throne  of  heaven  ;  and  not,  with  the  de- 
lighted men  of  Samaria,  exclaim,  "  we  have  seen 


MISSION,  WORKS  AND  DEATH  OF  CHRIST.      129 

him  ourselves,  and  do  know  that  he  is  the  Christ, 
the  saviour  of  the  world."  But  it  is  the  sufferings 
and  death  of  Christ,  rather  than  the  beneficence  of 
his  miracles,  that  we  look  for  the  proofs  of  his  great 
and  saving  love  to  the  world  ;  and  hence, 

3.  We  come  to  the  consideration  of  the  death 
of  Christ.  That  he  died  is  asserted  by  all  chris- 
tians, and  that  he  died  for  the  redemption  of  men; 
but  whether  for  the  whole  human  race,  is  not  a- 
greed,  some  averring  that  he  did,  and  others  that 
he  did  not.  We  propose  not  in  this  place  to  in- 
quire whether  his  death  be  the  procuring  cause  of 
salvation,  or  the  expression  and  attestation  of  God's 
love,  and  hence  the  pledge  that  God  will  save 
those  for  whom  he  died,  by  the  means  of  grace 
contained  in  that  religion  Which  his  death  served 
to  establish  ;  for,  although  this  question  may  be  of 
interest  in  some  points  of  view,  yet  in  regard  to 
our  present  inquiry  it  is  of  no  importance,  as  in 
either  case,  if  he  died  for  every  man,  then  the  sal- 
vation of  every  man  must  be  effected  either  by  it 
as  the  procuring  cause,  or  by  the  redemption  of  the 
pledge,  given  by  it,  through  the  faithfulness  of 
God. 

The  question  then  is  this,  did  our  blessed  Sav- 
iour suffer  and  die  for  every  man  without  excep- 
tion ?  This  question  the  apostle,  in  the  text,  an- 
swers in  the  affirmative.     True,  he  takes  the  fact 

17 


130        PROOFS  DRAWN  FROM  THE 

that  Christ  died  for  all,  for  granted,  i.  e.  as  a  sen- 
timent which  no  christian  of  his  day  disbelieved,- 
saying  "  if  one  died  for  all,  (as  you  all  admit) 
then  were  all  dead  :  and  that  he  died  for  all,  that 
they  which  live,  should  not  henceforth  live  unto 
themselves,  but  unto  him  which  died  for  them  and 
rose  again."  Here  he  states  the  admitted  fact  that 
"one  died  for  all  ;"  and  then  draws  from  it- 
two  inferences,  one  of  fact,  and  the  other  of  duty  : 
thus  "  if  one  died  for  all,"  then  this  inference  is 
plain,  viz.  all  were  dead,  or  under  the  sentence  of 
death:  Again:  if  one  died  for  all,  then  again  the 
inference  is  equally  clear,  viz.  that  all  should  "  live 
unto  him  who  died  for  them."  Now  if  any  one 
deny  that  Christ  died  for  all,  he  must,  to  be  con- 
sistent with  himself,  also  deny  that  all  are  dead  or 
under  the  sentence  of  death,  and  also  that  all  are 
obligated  to  live  to  Christ  ;  but  this,  we  think,  no 
one  would  be  willing  to  do.  The  equal  necessity 
of  all  for  the  redemption  of  Christ,  connected 
with  the  goodness  of  God,  furnishes  a  very  strong 
argument  in  favor  of  the  doctrine  of  the  universal- 
ity of  his  atonement.  Yet  we  rest  not  the  senti- 
ment upon  this  or  any  other  reasoning,  seeing  the 
higher  authority  of  revelation  is  at  hand. 

The  three  following  passages  seem  to  place  this 
inquiry  beyond  controversy,  viz.  1.  Tim.  ii.  5,  6. 
"  For  there  is  one  God,  and  one  mediator  between 
God  and  men,  the  man  Christ  Jesus  ;  who   gave 


MISSION,   WORKS   AND  DEATH  OF  CHRIST.     131 

himself  a  ransom  for  all,  to  be  testified  in  due 
time."  Heb.  ii.  9.  "  But  we  see  Jesus  who  was 
made  a  little  lower  than  the  angels,  for  the  suffer- 
ing of  death,  crowned  with  glory  and  honor ;  that 
he  by  the  grace  of  God,  should  taste  death  for 
every  man."  1.  John,  ii.  2.  "And  he  is  the 
propitiation  for  our  sins  ;  and  not  for  ours  only, 
but  also  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world." 

It  is  not  easy  to  conceive  how  the  universality 
of  Christ's  death,  could  have  been  expressed  in 
stronger  and  more  unequivocal  terms  than  are  em- 
ployed in  the  above  scriptures.  The  terms  all, 
every  man,  and  the  whole  world,  not  applied  to  a 
family,  society,  city,  country,  or  nation,  but  to 
mankind,  must  embrace  the  human  race  without 
exception.  And  further,  when  it  is  considered  that 
there  is  not  a  single  passage  in  the  Bible,  that 
limits  the  death  of  Christ  and  its  benefits  to  any 
section  or  part  of  mankind,  to  the  exclusion  of  oth- 
ers, we  cannot  but  perceive  that  the  whole  of  the 
sacred  writings  assent  ,lo  the  truth  affirmed  by  the 
above  passages,  and  therefore  confirm  their  testi- 
mony. And  hence,  the  united  voice  of  revelation 
proclaims  that  Jesus  died  for  all,  and  in  that  he 
died  for  all,  there  is  none  for  whom  he  did  not  die, 
and  give  himself  a  ransom,  that  they  might  live, 
and  finally  inherit  life  eternal. 

The  power  and  efficacy  of  the  death  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,    as   a    mean    to   accomplish    the   di- 


13&\  PROOFS  DRAWN  FROM  THE 

vine  purpose,  is  attested  by  the  astonishing 
events  which  accompanied  it ;  for  when  he  died, 
the  sun  refused  to  shine  from  the  sixth  to  the  ninth 
hour  ;  the  veil  of  the  Temple  was  parted,  the 
rocks  were  rent,  the  graves  of  the  saint?  were 
opened,  and  the  earth  shaken  to  its  centre.  And 
these  events  were  followed  by  the  still  more  sur- 
prising ones  of  the  resurrection  of  the  Lord,  and 
of  many  of  his  saints,  who  arose  and  appeared  to 
many,  as  the  witnesses  that  death  was  conquered, 
and  life  and  immortality  brought  to  light. 

Again  the  gospel  speaks  of  Christ  crucified,  un- 
der the  figure  of  a  ransom  ;  and  therefore  wheth- 
er it  be  a  ransom  of  life  for  life,  or  of  price  for  the 
redemption  of  sinners,  if  accepted  by  the  power 
to  whom  it  was  offered,  it  must  effect  the  release 
of  all  for  whom  it  was  offered,  or  be  wholly  in 
vain. 

Now  on  the  subjects  of  the  mission,  works,  and 
death  of  our  Lord,  the  following  reasoning  appears 
conclusive.  1st.  If,  as  we  have  shown,  God  sent 
his  son  to  redeem,  and  finally,  to  restore  all  men 
to  holiness  and  happiness ;  then  it  must  be  agreea- 
ble to  his  counsel  and  purpose,  that  that  great 
event  should  be  perfectly  accomplished.  And  then 
also  it  must  be  possible  that  it  should  be  so  done, 
in  perfect  consistency  with  the  moral  agency  and 
freedom  of  men,  the  moral  government  of  God, 
and  the  scripture    doctrine  of    rewards,    punish- 


MISSION,  WORKS  AND  DEATH  OF  CHRIST.      135 

ments,  and  pardons,  as  promised  and  dispensed  by 
the  gospel.     2.   If  Jesus  really  performed  the  mir- 
acles ascribed  to  him   in   the  New  Testament,   as 
all  christians  believe  he  did,  and  with  the  love  and 
compassion  evinced  by  his  voluntary  sufferings  and 
death  for  every   man  ;  then   he    must   have   both 
power  and  the   inclination  to  do  and   accomplish, 
in  a  manner  not  in  the  least  subversive   of  our  re- 
sponsibility to  the  divine  law,  whatever  is  necessa- 
ry to  the   moral   subjection,   and   the   restoring   of 
every  creature  to  the  obedience  of  the  divine  will. 
3.  And  if  Jesus  Christ,  in  addition  to  all   he  did 
and  said  during  his  life  on  earth  for  the   reforma- 
tion, comfort  and  happiness   of  men,  did,   as   the 
ambassador  of  God  and  in  obedience  to  his  will, 
give  "  himself  a  ransom  for  all,"  with  the  purpose  of 
effecting  the  regeneration  of  every  son  and  daugh- 
ter of  Adam,  in  the  present  or  future  world,  and  if 
God  accepted  him  as  such  a  ransom,  as  he  most  cer- 
tainly did,  when  he  seated  him  at    his   own    right 
hand  in  heavenly  places  ;  then  the  "  universal  res- 
toration" has  the  seal  of  heaven  set  upon  it,  as  di- 
vine truth. 

Whosoever  questions  the  correctness  of  this 
conclusion,  must  deny  that  God  sent  his  son  into  the 
world  to  be  the  saviour  of  the  whole  human  race, 
or  maintain  that  his  mission  will  fail,  the  power 
and  grace  exhibited  by  his  works  and  miracles,  be 
incompetent,  and  the  efficacy  of  his  death  prove 


134       PROOFS  DRAWN  FROM  THE 

insufficient  to  save  the  world  ;  which  must  pro- 
duce an  infinite  disappointment  to  the  Deity,  and 
cut  off  all  ground  of  hope  from  men  ;  for  if  the 
mission,  power  and  death  of  Christ,  as  they  are 
proclaimed  in  the  gospel,  fail  us  as  the  ground  of 
hope,  in  what  shall  we  confide  ?  And  if  God  be 
disappointed,  why  should  not  the  plan  of  salvation 
utterly  fail,  and  the  world  be  left  in  despair  ?  But 
who  would  be  willing  to  assume  this  ground  of  ar- 
gument against  our  position?  No  one,  we  trust* 
and  therefore  the  mission  of  Christ,  and  the  "uni- 
versal restoration,"  must  stand  or  fall  together. 

Such  then  being  the  design  of  our  Saviour's  mis- 
sion, it  claims  from  the  world  the  highest  respect, 
and  for  his  doctrines  and  precepts  the  most  cor- 
dial reception  and  the  most  cheerful  and  constant 
obedience.  Such  being  the  character  and  tenden- 
cy of  his  miracles  and  examples  of  life  ;  they  are 
the  heavenly  patterns  of  piety,  virtue,  and  benev- 
olence, given  for  the  love  and  imitation  of  men  i,n 
every  sphere  of  duty  :  and  such  being  the  purpose 
and  efficacy  of  his  death ;  every  man  for  whom  he 
died,  is  under  the  highest  obligations  of  gratitude 
to  heaven  for  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  of  Christ 
and  him  crucified  ;  and  has  the  highest  interest  in 
placing  himself  at  the  foot  of  the  cross,  and  own- 
ing him  who  bled  upon  it  as  his  blessed  Lord  and 
Saviour. 

Again  :  upon  the  truth  of  this  view  of  the  sub- 


MISSION,  WORKS  AND  DEATH  OF  CHRIST.     135 

ject,  must  depend  the  criminality  of  those  persons1 
who  reject  the  gospel ;  for  if  there  be  any  one  of 
all  the  human  race,  whom  Jesus  was  not  sent  to 
save,  and  for  whose  redemption  he  did  not  give 
himself  a  ransom,  his  rejection  of  Christ  and  the 
gospel,  so  far  at  least  as  his  own  salvation  is  con- 
cerned, can  be  no  violation  of  the  will  of  God,  or 
of  his  own  duty;  as  truth  and  justice  cannot  re- 
quire us  to  believe  what  is  not  true.  But  if,- as 
we  have  shown  to  be  the  case,  Christ  came  down 
from  heaven,  lived,  died  and  rose  again,  for  the  sal- 
vation of  "  every  man  ;"  then  whosoever  denies 
the  messiahship  of  Jesus,  scoffs  at  his  religion,  and 
tramples  upon  the  institutions  of  his  gospel,  de- 
nies the  Holy  One,  treads  under  foot  the  blood  of 
the  covenant,  and  does  despite  to  the  spirit  of 
grace,  as  the  fruit  of  God's  everlasting  love. 

This  doctrine  of  Christ  crucified  for  the  world y 
is  most  admirably  calculated  to  overcome  the  idol- 
atry, irreligion,  and  skepticism,  which  have  and' 
still  do  prevail  in  the  earth;  and  to  unite  men  of 
every  age  and  nation  in  the  worship  of  one  Gody 
the  love  of  one  Saviour,  and  in  the  blessed  hop  es 
and  comforts  of  one  holy  religion.  It  offers  to 
men  the  most  reasonable  inducements  to  honor  and 
love  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  to  detest  and  avoid 
infidelity  as  the  basest  ingratitude  to  heaven,  and 
the  bane  of  human  life.  It  invites  a  world  from 
the  degrading  vices,    ignorance,,  and    cruelties    of 


136        PROOFS  DRAWN  FROM  THE 

heathenism  ; — from  the  licentiousness,  the  intem- 
perance, and  loathsome  haunts  of  the  profaners  of 
sacred  truth; — from  the  awful  and  desolating 
scenes  of  war,  rapine  and  murder  ;  and  bids  them 
seek  at  the  feet  of  Jesus  the  pardon  of  their  sins, 
the  instructions  of  his  word,  the  heavenly  rest  and 
peace,  and  joy  of  his  kingdom  on  earth,  and  a 
crown  of  life  that  fadeth  not  away  in  heaven. 

In  what  way  could  our  Lord  so  glorify  the  Father, 
as  by  thus  inducing  the  world  to  forsake  their  sins, 
and  to  seek  and  find  eternal  life  ?  In  what  other 
way  could  he  clothe  himself  with  such  distinguish- 
ed honor,  or  confer  on  the  world  such  high  and 
sacred  obligations  of  love,  gratitude  and  obedi- 
ence? And  are  not  love  and  gratitude  among  the 
most  powerful  incentives  to  virtue  and  piety,  since 
as  christians,  we  love  God  because  he  first  loved 
us,  and  sent  his  son  to  die  for  us  ? 

Why  then  should  it  be  thought  incredible,  that  he 
who  came  on  such  a  mission,  and  who  did  so  much 
to  make  men  holy  and  happy  while  he  was  here, 
should  continue  to  exert  his  power  and  grace,  till 
he  brings  every  knee  to  bow,  and  every  tongue  to 
confess,  and  wipe  away  the  tears  of  grief  from  ev- 
ery human  eye  f  As  the  judge  of  men,  can  he  not 
sufficiently  excite  the  fear  and  apprehension  of  sin- 
ners, without  the  infliction  of  such  a  punishment 
as  must  forever  exclude  them  from  being  restored 
bv  his  mercv  ?  This,  we  think,  must  be  admitted  ; 


CHARACTER  AND  ATTRIBUTES  OF  DEITY.      137 

else  to  reward  men  according  to  their  works,  must 
be  opposed  to  the  heavenly  doctrine  of  salvation 
by  grace,  a  sentiment  which  would  be  most  dis- 
honorable to  the  moral  government  of  our  Heav- 
enly Father  ;  for  then  the  law  of  God  would  be 
against  his  promises,  which  an  inspired  apostle  has 
asserted  not  to  be  true.  And  therefore  no  valid 
objection  can  be  brought  against  the  moral  ten- 
dency of  this  noble  sentiment. 

Hence  we  are  constrained  to  believe,  that-  the 
blessed  gospel  of  a  crucified  Saviour,  will  prevail 
through  the  whole  earth,  and  completely  triumph 
over  idolatry,  error  and  vice  ;  reconcile  a  world  to 
God  and  to  each  other,  and  fill  the  earth  with 
the  praise  and  glory  of  his  grace.  Therefore  let 
every  man  that  hath  this  hope  in  his  heart,  purify 
himself  from  sinful  and  selfish  feelings,  cultivate 
the  most  enlarged  views  of  benevolence  among 
men,  and  use  his  utmost  exertions  to  impart  the 
rich  and  saving  knowledge  of  the  mission,  works, 
and  sufferings  of  Jesus  to  every  nation,  kindred, 
tongue  and  people  ;  that  every  child  of  Adam 
may  behold  him  as  the  lovely  shepherd  of  Israel, 
feel  their  need  of  his  help,  cry  to  him  and  be  saved. 

Heaven  grant  that  such  a  spirit  and  such  a  re- 
ligion, may  speedily  come  upon  the  rulers  of  the 
earth,  the  ministry  of  the  gospel,  the  church  of 
God,  and  upon  all  the   people  ;  and    to   God  and 

his  Christ  be  the  glory,  forever. 

18 


LECTURE    VIII. 


PROOFS  OF  THE  FINAL  RESTORATION. 
II.  CORINTHIANS,  I.  20. 

"FOR  ALL  THE  PROMISES  OF  GOD  IN  HIM  ARE  YEA,  AND  IN  HIM  AMEN, 
UNTO  THE  GLORY  OF  GOD  BY  US." 

Revelation  is  the  greatest  and  richest  of  bless- 
ings to  man.  It  discloses  the  perfections  of  Deity, 
and  the  designs  of  his  government ;  it  opens  to  our 
view  the  felicities  of  Eternity,  and  shows  us  the 
way  to  attain  them ;  and  teaches  us  to  aspire  to 
Heaven  as  our  destined  home.  Compared  with 
these  treasures,  what  are  the  riches,  the  honors, 
or  the  pleasures  of  this  short  and  changeful  life  ? 


THE  PROMISES    OF    GOD.  139 

But  that  which  adds  to  the  scriptures  their  great- 
est value  to  us  as  sinners,  is  the  spirit  of  promise 
and  grace  which  runs  through  the  sacred  volume, 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end,  as  a  vein  of  the 
richest  gold,  offering  divine  aid  and  success  to  those 
who  seek  the  heavenly  inheritance.  These  pre- 
cious promises  all  flow  through  one  only  medium, 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  for  out  of  him  there  are 
no  promises  of  salvation.  The  spirit  and  design 
of  all  the  promises  is  therefore,  to  set  forth  the 
the  riches  of  grace  in  Christ  for  penitent  sinners, 
the  treasures  of  glory  he  has  prepared  for  them, 
and  the  blessed  rewards  he  will  confer  upon  their 
obedience  and  fidelity,  as  followers  and  friends  ; 
and  thus  to  endear  to  men  the  goodness  of  Him 
who  sent  his  son  to  be  the  saviour  of  the  world,  and 
thus  to  encourage-  them  in  the  practice  of  virtue 
and  filial  piety. 

When,  however,  we  connect  the  several  parts  of 
Christianity,  its  doctrines,  histories,  precepts, 
promises,  and  warnings,  as  a  whole,  it  is  a  most 
perfect  system  of  promises — one  great  promise, 
embracing  whatever  could  reasonably  restrain  our 
propensities  to  evil,  and  check  the  vicious  in  their 
rash  career  to  wretchedness — whatever  could  con- 
duce, to  the  temporal,  spiritual,  and  eternal  happi- 
ness of  men,  individually  and  collectively.  Hence, 
all  parts  of  the  Bible  are  to  be  considered  in  con- 
nection with  the  promises   of  salvation  by  a   Re- 


140  PROOFS  DRAWN  FROM 

deomer,  and  as  necessary  to  their  perfect  ac- 
complishment; nothing  therefore,  as  designed  by 
the  Holy  Spirit,  is  against  the  promises,  but  all 
the  scriptures  "  are  yea"  and  "  amen"  to  the 
glory  of  God,"  by  the  preaching  of  the  gospel. 

For  this  doctrine  we  have  the  authority  of  St. 
Paul,  saying  "  Is  the  law  against  the  promises  of 
God  ?  God  forbid."  According  to  this  authority, 
the  promises  take  the  lead  in  the  sacred  writings, 
expressing  the  great  designs  of  their  Beneficent 
Author ;  and  hence  all  the  requirements,  warn- 
ings, and  denunciations  therein  contained,  must  in 
their  ultimate  design  and  tendency,  perfectly  har- 
monize with  them  ;  so  that  the  whole  word  of 
God,  may,  in  the  comprehensive  language  of  the 
angel,  be  declared  "  good  tidings  of  great  joy, 
which  shall  be  to  all  people." 

From  this  perfect  harmony  of  the  scriptures,  it 
follows,  that  all  punishments  therein  denounced 
upon  the  wicked,  must  be  intended  to  reform  the 
transgressor,  and  thereby  fit  him  to  be  partaker  of 
the  promises  ;  so  that  the  threatenings  may  all  be 
fully  accomplished,  and  yet  the  promises  all  be  re- 
alised ;  nay  more,  they  are  in  the  plan  of  infinite 
wisdom  and  grace,  necessary  as  preparatives,  for 
the  fulfilment  of  the  promises.  There  is  an  in- 
describable beauty  seen,  by  viewing  the  scriptures 
in  this  pleasing  light ;  for  the  doctrines  explain 
the  grounds,  nature  a-nd  import   of  the   promises  ; 


THE   PROMISES  OF  GOD.  141 

the  threatenings  warn  us  of  the  evils  of  sin,  and 
awaken  us  to  a  sense  of  our  need  of  the  blessings 
promised  by  the  gospel  ;  and  the  precepts  teach  us 
how  to  obtain  and  enjoy  the  rich  promises  of 
grace  here,  and  of  glory  hereafter. 

The  benefits  resulting  from  this  glorious  system 
of  promises,  through  one  gracious  Mediator,  caa 
be  received  on.ly  by  faith — faith  in  Christ,  faith  in 
the  promises,  and  not  in  the  promises  only,  but 
also  in  the  precepts  and  threatenings  with  which 
the  sacred  volume  abounds ;  for  all  parts  of  the 
scripture  being  necessary  to  salvation,  faith  in  all 
those  parts,  must  be  necessary  to  a  saving  faith. 
Without  this  faith,  the  promises,  however  great 
and  glorious  they  may  be,  can  have  no  power  to 
comfort,  strengthen  or  encourage  us.  They  re- 
main ,t9  us  a  dead  letter,  a  mere  nullity,  till  they 
are  received  as  sacred  and  revealed  truth.  But 
when  so  received,  they  become  "  the  power  of 
God  unto  salvation." 

As  well  might  we  expect  to  enjoy  the  Tight  of 
the  sun  in  the  firmament  without  ejes,  as  to  pos- 
sess the  promised  blessings  of  grace  without  faith. 
This  faith  in  revelation,  is  not  only  a  source  of 
consolation  to  the  afflicted,  and  a  powerful  support 
to  the  soul  when  the  heart  and  the  flesh  are  fail- 
ing at  the  approach  of  death  ;  but  it  is  also  the 
most  powerful  spring  to  virtue  and  piety.  Who 
would  begin  to  build,  if  he  had  no  faith  he  should 


142  PROOFS  DRAWN  FROM 

be  able  to  finish  ?  What  husbandman  would  feel 
courage  in  the  spring,  to  go  forth  to  the  fields 
and  cast  in  the  appointed  seed,  protect  and  watch 
its  growth  with  such  interest  and  patience,  were 
it  not  for  his  faith  that  in  the  harvest  he  should 
reap  an  abundant  reward  for  his  care  and  toil  ? 
Or  what  disciple  could  have  felt  the  courage  to 
follow  his  blessed  Saviour  through  evil  as  well  as 
good  report,  submit  to  the  loss  of  all  things,  and 
to  death  itself,  had  he  not  believed  his  Lor  d, 
according  to  promise,  would  be  with  him  always, 
make  him  more  than  a  conquerer  over  death,  and 
give  to  him  a  crown  of  everlasting  life  ? 

Having  thus  attempted  to  show  the  unity  of  the 
promises,  the  harmony  of  the  promises  with  the 
other  parts  and  doctrines  of  the  scriptures,  and 
the  necessity  of  faith  in  them  ;  let  us  now  in- 
quire whether  God  has  promised  in  his  word,  the 
universal  restoration,  i.  e.  in  the  fulness  of  times, 
to  subdue  each  of  the  human  race  to  perfect  obe- 
dience, and  to  bring  them  to  be  genuine  chris- 
tians in  temper,  spirit,  and  feeling ;  and  thus  make 
them  heirs  of  his  everlasting  kingdom  ?  Which 
if  we  succeed  to  do,  it  will  then  be  proved  that 
all  the  scriptures  support  the  doctrine,  and  that 
faith  in  it  is  necessary  to  salvation. 

For  the  purpose  of  this  inquiry,  we  may  divide 
the  promises  into  those  which  declare  the  divine 
purpose  to    remove    the  sources  of  evil,    or  the 


THE    PROMISES    OF    GOD.  143 

obstructions  in  the  way  of  human  happiness;  and 
secondly,  those  that  describe  the  good^  he  will 
confer. 

The  general  and  special  sources  of  human   mis- 
ery are  sin,  sorrow  and  death.     Sin  is  the  general 
source  of  all  sufferings  ;  although  sorrow  and  death 
are  second  causes  of  great  anguish  and  pain  in  the 
world.     Were  men  to  be  separated  from  sin,' they 
would  be  free  from  death,  sorrow,  and  every  cause 
of  human  disquiet.      And  if  they  were    exempt 
from  death,    and  the   other  causes  of  grief  they 
would  also  be  free  from   the  dominion  and  influ- 
ences of  sin.     Now  the  first  class  of  the  promises 
to  which  we  have  alluded,  very  plainly  announces 
the  destruction  of  all  these  sources  of  human  woi 
As,  1st.  of  sin.  St.  Johni.  29.  "Behold  the  Lamb' 
of  God  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the    world." 
Daniel  ix.  24.    "  Seventy  weeks  are  determined 
upon  thy  people  and  upon  thy  holy  city,  to  finish5 
the  transgression,  and  to  make  an  end  of  sins,  and 
to  make  reconciliation  for  iniquity,  and  to  bring  iri 
everlasting  righteousness,  and  to  seal  up  the  vision5 
and  prophecy,  and  to  anoint  the  Most  Holy."  St. 
Matt.  i.  21.     "Thou   shall   call   his  name  Jesus; 
for  he  shall  save  his  people  from  their  sins."  1  John 
ii.  2.  "  And  he  is  the  propitiation  for  our  sins  ;   and 
not  for  ours  only,  but  also  for  the  sins  of  the  whole 
world."     Heb.  ix.  26.  "  Now  once,  in  the  end  of 
the  world,  hath  he  appeared  to  put  away  sin,  by 


144  PROOFS  DRAWN  FROM 

the  sacrifice  of  himself."  Phil.  ii.  10,  11.  "That 
at  the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow,  of 
things  in  heaven,  and  things  in  earth,  and  things 
tinder  the  earth ;  and  that  every  tongue  should 
confess,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to  the  glory  of 
God  the  Father."  1.  Cor.  xv.  25.  "  For  he  must 
reign  until  he  hath  put  all  enemies  under  his  feet." 
These  promises  of  God  show  in  the  clearest  man- 
ner, that  it  is  the  divine  purpose,  and  the  office  of 
Christ,  to  restrain  transgression,  make  an  end  of 
sin  offerings,  as  offered  by  the  law,  which  he  did, 
by  becoming  the  Lamb  of  God,  to  take  away  the 
sin  of  the  world  ;  that  he  will  save  his  people,  not 
only  believers,  but  the  whole  world  from  their 
sins  ;  and  that  he  will  make  an  end  of  rebellion, 
bring  every  creature  to  bow  to  his  authority,  in 
heaven,  in  the  earth,  and  under  the  earth,  and  al- 
so to  abandon  their  infidelity,  confess  him  Lord  and 
Saviour,  so  that  in  the  universe  there  will  not  be 
found  one  single  enemy  to  Jesus,  one  despiser  of 
his  gospel,  or  one  sinner  before  God.  Such  are 
the  promises.  Do  they  not  plainly  declare  that 
sin  shall  be  separated  from  the  hearts  and  lives  of 
the  whole  intelligent  creation ;  and  so  forever  be 
destroyed  and  borne  away  ? 

2.  Another  great  source  of  sufferings,  which 
God  has  promised  to  remove,  is  death  ;  see  Isaiah 
xxv.  8.  "He  will  swallow  up  death  in  victory." 
Hosea  xiii.    14.      "I  will  ransom    them   from   the 


THE    PROMISES    OF    GOD.  145 

power  of  the  grave ;  I  will  redeem  them  from 
death  ;  O  death,  I  will  be  thy  plagues;  O  grave, 
I  will  be  thy  destruction  ;  repentance  shall  be  hid 
from  mine  eyes."  1.  Cor.  xv.  26,  54.  "  The  last 
enemy  that  shall  be  destroyed  is  death.  So  when 
this  corruptible  shall  have  put  on  incorruption, 
and  this  mortal  shall  have  put  on  immortality,  then 
shall  be  brought  to  pass  the  saying  that  is  written, 
Death  is  swallowed  up  in  victory.  O  death  !  where 
is  thy  sting  ?  O  grave  !  where  is  thy  victory  ?" 
Revelations  xxi.  4.  "  And  there  shall  be  no  more 
death."  According  to  these  passages,  God  has 
most  solemnly  promised,  to  overcome  and  conquer 
death,  ransom  its  subjects,  and  destroy  the  place 
of  its  dominion  ;  so  that  nothing,  bearing  the 
name  or  having  the  properties  of  death,  shall  be 
found  any  more.  Let  it  be  here  noted,  that  while 
one  of  the  human  race  remains  subject  to  death, 
temporal  or  spiritual,  the  saints  will  never  be  able 
to  sing  in  shouts  of  triumph,  0  death!  where  is 
thy  sting?  O grave  !  (hell)  where  is  thy  victory? 
But  that  they  will  have  such  a  glorious  victory  to 
sing,  who  can  doubt?  Since  God  will  hide  re- 
pentance, or  change  of  purpose,  from  his  eyes,  till 
it  be  accomplished  ;  and  St.  Paul  has  assured  us, 
that,  "  As  in  Adam  all  die,  even  so,  in  Christ  shall 
all  be  made  alive." 

3.  The  last  source  and  proof  of  misery   among 

men,  now  to  be  mentioned,  which  God  has  promis- 

19 


146  PROOFS  DRAWN  FROM 

ed  to  take  away  from  the  world,  is  that  of  sorrow, 
grief,  despair.  The  following  are  the  promises 
referred  to ;  Isaiah,  xxv.  8.  "  The  Lord  will 
wipe  away  tears  from  off  all  faces."  Revelation 
xxi.  4.  "  And  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from 
their  eyes  ;  and  there  shall  be  no  more  death,  nei- 
ther sorrow,  nor  crying,  neither  shall  there  be  any 
more  pain  ;  for  the  former  things  are  passed  away.''' 
These,  with  many  other  passages  of  like  import, 
prove  most  conclusively,  fif-st,  that  God  will  wipe 
tears  from  off  all  faces  ;  second,  that  he  will  wipe 
all  tears  from  each  face.  And  third,  that  there  shall 
be  no  more  weeping  ;  for  all  the  causes  of  grief 
will  have  passed  away. 

Therefore,  by  this  class  of  the  promises,  God 
has  given  us  the  strongest  assurance  that  he  will, 
by  the  agency  and  grace  of  Jesus  Christ,  take 
away  the  sins  of  the  whole  world,  making  an  end 
of  its  dominion  over  the  human  mind  ;  that  he  will 
destroy  death,  release  all  that  have  been,  are,  or 
shall  be  subject  to  its  power,  and  bring  all  weep- 
ing, grief  and  sorrow  to  a  final  end. 

Having  thus  noticed  the  promises  which  speak  of 
the  destruction  of  sin  and  misery  ;  we  now  come  to 
those  that  confer  happiness.  Of  this  class  are  1. 
The  great  leading  covenant  promise  made  of  God 
to  Abraham.  When  God  called  Abraham  to  leave 
his  country  and  kindred,  he  gave  him  several  great 
promises,  and  concluded  with  these  gracious  words, 


THE  PROMISES   OF  GOD.  147 

"  And  iii  thee  shall  all  the  families  of  the  earth  be 
blessed."  See  Gen.  xii.  1,  2,  3.  And  after  he 
had  passed  the  trial  of  offering  up  his  son,  it  pleas- 
ed Jehovah  to  confirm  these  promises  by  an  oath, 
saying,  "By  myself  have  I  sworn,  saith  Jehovah, 
for  because  thou  hast  done  this  thing,  and  hast  not 
withheld  thy  son^  thine  only  son :  in  blessing  1 
will  bless  thee,"  &c.  "  And  in  thy  seed  shall  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth  be  blessed  :  because  thou 
hast  obeyed  my  voice."  Gen.  xxii.  15,  18.  This 
same  glorious  promise  was  renewed  to  Isaac,  in 
these  words,  "  And  1  will  perform  the  oath  which 
I  swore  unto  Abraham  thy  father,  &C.  And  in 
thy  seed  shall  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  be 
blessed.  Because  that  Abraham  obeyed  my  voice, 
&-c.  Gen.  xxvi.  3,  4.  5.  And  the  same  was  con- 
firmed unto  Jacob,  in  nearly  the  same  language, 
"  And  in  thee,  and  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  fami- 
lies of  the  earth  be  blessed."     Gen.  xxviii.  14. 

This  glorious  promise,  the  apostle  calls  the  gos- 
pel preached  by  Jehovah,  see  Gal.  iii.  8.  "  And 
the  scripture  foreseeing  that  God  would  justify 
the  heathen  through  faith,  preached  before  the 
gospel  unto  Abraham,  saying,  in  thee  shall  all  na- 
tions be  blessed."  "Now  to  Abraham  and  his 
seed  were  the  promises  made  :  he  saith  not,  And 
to  seeds  as  of  many ;  but  as  of  one,  And  to  thy 
seed,  which  is  Christ."     Ver.  16. 

Surely,  all  nations,  families,  and  kindreds   of 


148  PROOFS  DRAWN  FROM 

the  earth,  intend  mankind  without  any  exception  ; . 
and  they  all  are  to  be  blessed  in  Christ,  with  the 
gospel  blessings  of  justification  and  life  eternal, 
according  to  St.  Paul's  commentary  of  this  prom- 
ise of  God  made  to  the  fathers :  which  is  the 
foundation  of  the  gospel,  and  the  only  ground  of 
the  faith  delivered  to  the  saints. 

2.  Those  which  proclaim  the  universal  spread  of 
the  gospel,  see  Isaiah  xlv.  23.  "  1  have  sworn  by 
myself,  the  word  has  gone  out  of  my  mouth  in 
righteousness,  and  shall  not  return,  that  unto  me 
every  knee  shall  bow,  and  every  tongue  shall 
swear."  "  For  as  the  rain  cometh  down,  and  the 
snow  from  heaven,  and  returneth  not  thither,  but 
watereth  the  earth,  and  maketh  it  bring  forth  and 
bud,  that  it  may  give  seed  to  the  sower,  and  bread 
to  the  eater  ;  so  shall  my  word  be  that  goeth  forth 
out  of  my  mouth  ;  it  shall  not  return  unto  me 
void  ;  but  it  shall  accomplish  that  which  I  please, 
and  prosper  in  the  thing  whereto  I  sent  it."  "  For 
this  is  the  covenant  that  I  will  make  with  the 
House  of  Israel,  after  those  days,  saith  the  Lord, 
I  will  put  my  laws  into  their  mind,  and  write  them 
in  their  hearts  ;  and  I  will  be  to  them  a  God,  and 
they  shall  be  to  me  a  people  ;  and  they  shall  not 
teach  every  man  his  neighbor,  and  every  man  his 
brother,  saying  know  the  Lord  ;  for  all  shall  know 
me,  from  the  least  to  the  greatest.  Isaiah  lv.  10, 
11.     Heb.  viii.  10,  11. 


THE   PROMISES    OF    GOD.  1  W 

These  scripture  promises  not  only  assert  that 
the  gospel  which  God  sent  into  all  the  world,  and 
commanded  to  be  proclaimed  to  evtrij  creature, 
will  universally  prevail ;  but  also  that  it  will  be 
written  in  the  hearts  of  all  men,  from  the  least  to 
the  greatest,  producing  a  most  hearty  and  willing 
subjection  to  the  divine  will,  and  effecting  all  the 
purposes  of  its  revelation. 

3.  Those  which  describe  the  extent  of  the  Mes- 
siah's kingdom  and  reign.  Psalm  ii.  7,  8.  "  1  will 
declare  the  decree  ;  the  Lord  hath  said  unto  me, 
thou  art  my  son  ;  this  day  have  I  begotten  thee. 
Ask  of  me, and  I  shall  give  thee  the  heathen  for  thine 
inheritance,  and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth 
for  thy  possession."  "  I  saw  in  the  night  visions, 
and  behold,  one  like  the  Son  of  Man  came  with 
the  clouds  of  heaven,  and  came  to  the  Ancient  of 
Days,  and  they  brought  him  near  before  him.  And 
there  was  given  him  dominion,  and  glory,  and  a 
kingdom,  that  all  people,  and  nations,  and  lan- 
guages, should  serve  him  ;  his  dominion  is  an  ev- 
erlasting dominion,  which  shall  not  pass  away,  and 
his  kingdom  that  which  shall  not  be  destroyed." 
"And  the  kingdom  and  dominion,  and  the  great- 
ness of  the  kingdom  under  the  whole  heaven,  shall 
be  given  to  the  people  of  the  saints  of  the  Most 
High,  whose  kingdom  is  an  everlasting  kingdomr 
and  all  dominions  shall  serve  and  obey  him."  "And 
the  seventh  angel  sounded  ;  and  there  were  great 


150  PROOFS   DRAWN  FROM 

voices  in  heaven, saying,  The  kingdoms  of  this  world 
are  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord,  and  of  his 
Christ;  and  he  shall  reign  forever  and  ever."  "He 
that  descended  is  the  same  also  that  ascended  up 
far  above  all  heavens,  that  he  might  fill  all  things. 
And  he  gave  some,  apostles  ;  and  some,  prophets  ; 
and  some,  evangelists ;  and  some,  pastors  and 
teachers ;  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints,  for  the 
work  of  the  ministry,  for  the  edifying  of  the  body 
of  Christ;  till  we  all  come  in  the  unity  of  the 
faith,  and  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God  un- 
to a  perfect  man,  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature 
of  the  fulness  of  Christ." 

"  Wherefore  God  also  hath  highly  exa'ted  him, 
and  given  him  a  name  which  above  every  name; 
that  at  the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow,  of 
things  in  heaven,  and  things  in  earth,  and  things 
under  the  earth  ,  and  that  every  tongue  should 
confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to  the  glory  of 
God  the  Father.  Dan.  vii.  13,  14,  27.  Hev.  xi. 
15.     Eph.  iv.  10,  11,  12,  13.      Phil.  ii.  9,  10  11. 

These  prophetic  promises,  (for  so  v\  e  view  them) 
give  assurance  that  the  kingdom  of  Christ  will 
continue  its  growth,  until  it  em  I  races  in  its 
bosom  all  people,  nations,  and  kingdoms  of  this 
world  not  only,  but  all  who  have  passed  to  the 
world  of  spirits,  each  being  of  one  faith,  and 
perfect  in  Christ,  so  that  he  will  be  reverenced 
and  admired  as  King  of  Kings,  and  Lord   of  the 


THE  PROMISES  OF  GOD. 


151 


dead  and  living.  What  a  glorious  dominion  will 
that  be,  which  our  Lord  will  extend  over  all  men 
in  this,  and  a  future  world,  as  his  redeemed,  wil- 
ling, and  happy  subjects,  bound  to  him  by  perfect 
love  and  gratitude. 

4.  Those  which  contrast  evil  with  good,  show- 
ing that  the  latter  will  greatly  surpass  the  former  ; 
that  the  good,  by  Christ,  will  more   than   balance 
the  evils,  by  Adam.     "  For  since  by   man  came 
death,  by  man  came  also  the    resurrection   of  the 
dead.     For  as  in  Adam,  all  die,  even  so  in  Christ 
shall  all   be    made  alive."     1.  Cor.    xv.   21,    22. 
"  Wherefore,  as  by  one  man,  sin  entered    into   the 
world,  and  death  by  sin  ;  and  so  death  passed  up- 
on all  men,  for  that  all  have  sinned  ;   therefore,  as 
by  the  offence  of  one,  judgment   came  upon   all 
men  to  condemnation  ;  even  so  by  the  righteous- 
ness of  one,  the  free  gift  hath  come  upon  all  men 
unto  justification  of  life.     For    as  by    one   man's 
disobedience  many  were  made  sinners;  so  l;y  the 
obedience  of  one,  shall  many  be  made  righteous. 
Moreover  the  law  entered,  that  the  offence    might 
abound  :  but  where  sin  abounded,  grace  did  much 
more  abound;  that  as  sin  had  reigned  unto  death, 
even  so  might  grace  reign  through  righteousness  un- 
to eternal  life,  by  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord."     "  Be- 
cause the  creature  itself  also  shall  be  delivered  from 
the  bondage  of  corruption,  into  the  glorious  liber- 
ty of  the  sons  of  God."     Rom.  v.  12,  18,  19,20, 
21.   and  viii.21. 


152  PROOFS   DRAWN   FROM 

Here  we  have  the  apostle's  contrast  of  death  by 
Adam,  with  the  resurrection  by  Christ — of  con- 
demnation for  sin,  with  justification  by  grace — of 
sin,  with  righteousness — of  the  limited  reign  of 
misery,  with  the  endless  reign  of  happiness — of  the 
bondage  of  corruption,  with  the  glorious  liberty  of 
the  sons  of  God — and  of  the  number  that  sinned, 
with  the  number  that  shall  be  saved.  And  what 
is  the  result  of  this  contrast  ?  Answer,  this  is  the 
result  ;  the  same  persons  that  die  in  Adam  are  to 
be  made  alive  in  Christ;  the  same  persons  that 
are  made  sinners  by  the  disobedience  of  Adam, 
will  be  justified  by  the  obedience  of  Jesus  Christ; 
and  all  who  groan  in  the  bondage  of  corruption, 
will  possess  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God. 
What  a  glorious  and  universal  restoration  is  here 
promised  of  the  whole  sinful,  suffering,  and  dying 
race  of  Adam  !  A  restoration  to  life,  purity,  joy, 
and  glory  ;  wherein  grace  shall  abound  beyond 
the  reign  of  sin,  and  righteousness  extend  its  do- 
minion beyond  the  power  of  death,  in  an  eternity 
of  bliss  and  glory. 

We  now  ask  what  evils  do  exist  in  the  universe 
that  God  has  not  promised  to  destroy  ?  What  good 
that  can  be  imagined  for  the  human  race,  is  there, 
that  God  has  not  promised  to  bestow  ? 

Now  for  the  confirmation  of  our  faith,  and  the 
encouragement  of  our  obedience,  let  us  notice  that 
the  promises  of  God,  on  each  of  the  above   men- 


THE  PROMISES   OF  GOD.  155 

tioned  subjects,  lead  us  to  the  same  conclusion  ;  and 
each  in  their  result,  perfectly  sustain  the  final  res- 
titution of  the  whole  human  race.  For  if  the  sin 
of  the  world  be  separated  from  it,  and  taken  away  ; 
then  the  world  must  be  holy  and  happy  ;  if  death 
be  destroyed,  all  must  have  life  eternal;  if  all 
tears  be  wiped  from  all  faces,  then  perfect  joy 
must  be  the  portion  of  each  ;  if  every  man  of  ev- 
ery nation  be  blessed  and  justified  in  Christ,  the 
seed  of  Abraham,  then  guilt  and  sufferings  must 
cease  forever  ;  if  the  true  gospel  and  kingdom  of 
Christ  prevail  over  the  whole  e^rth  and  be  written 
in  every  heart,  and  not  only  this,  but  if  every  knee 
"  of  things  in  heaven,  things  in  earth,  and  things 
under  the  earth,"  shall  bow  to  Christ,  and  every 
tongue  confess  him  to  be  Lord  to  the  glory  of  God 
the  Father  ;  then  must  the  restoration  to  perfec- . 
tion  and  felicity  be  strictly  universal,  and  the  reign 
of  righteousness  extend  infinitely  beyond  that  of 
sin,  misery,  and  death.  Not  only  do  all  the  prom- 
ises but  every  part  of  the  scriptures,  even  the 
threatenings  and  judgments  of  God,  according  to 
this  plan,  promote  the  cause  of  righteousness  and 
salvation.  What  a  foundation  is  here  laid  for  our 
faith,  hope  and  consolation  ;  what  gentle  cords  of 
love  draw  us  to  the  obedience  of  him,  in  whom  are 
all  the  promises  of  grace  and  of  glory  ;  what  a  ra- 
tional and  filial  fear  restrains  us  from  the    love   of 

sin  ;  and  what  a  light  spreads  itself  over   the   sa- 

20 


154  PROOFS  DRAWN  FROM 

cred  pages,  reconciling  them  in  the    most  perfect 
harmony  ? 

Thy  judgments,  O  God,  are  right ;  and  thy 
promises  full  of  mercy.  What  thou  dost  prohibit 
in  thy  wisdom,  that  help  us  to  shun ;  and  what 
thou  hast  promised,  O  help  us  to  believe  with  the 
heart,  and  obey  that  our  souls  may  take  hold  on 
eternal  life.  Let  the  moral  universe  experience 
the  blessed  fruition  of  all  thy  promises  ;  and  to  thy 
name  be  the  glory,  in  Christ  Jesus,  amen  and 
amen. 


L.ECTURE  IX. 


PROOFS  OF  THE  FINAL  RESTORATION. 


ST.  MATTHEW  V.  44,  45. 

"  BUT  I  SAY  UNTO  YOU,  LOVE  YOUR  ENEMIES,  BLESS  THEM  THAT 
CURSE  YOU,  DO  GOOD  TO  THEM  THAT  HATE  YOU,  AND  PRAY  FOR 
THEM  THAT  DEsPITEFU  l,LY  USE  YOU,  AND  PERSECUTE  YOU  ;  THAT 
YE  MAY  BE  THE  CHILDREN  OF  YOUR  FATHER  WHICH  IS  IN  HEA- 
VEN ;  FOR  HE  MAKETH  HIS  SUN  TO  RISE  ON  THE  EVIL  AND  ON  THE 
GOOD,  AND  SENDETH   HIS   RAIN  ON  THE  JUST  AND  ON  THE    UNJUST." 

The  morality  of  the  Jews,  as  well  as  that  of  Gen- 
tiles, was  extremely  defective.  It  was  so  fram- 
ed by  its  teachers,  as  to  be  selfish  and  partial  in 
its  operation,  it  placed  a  part  of  the   human    race 


156  PROOFS  DRAWN  FROM 

beyond  the  .sympathies  and  services  of  the  rest  of 
mankind  ;  it  allowed  of  causeless  anger,  contempt 
and  lust,  provided  they  did  not  break  out  into 
overt  acts;  it  weakened  the  filial  respect  due  from 
children  to  parents;  and  it  failed  properly  to 
unite  piety  and  virtue, — love  to  God,  and  love  to 
man,  as  essential  and  correlative  branches  of  true 
religion. 

The  basis  of  christian  morality  is  supreme  love 
to  God,  and  universal  benevolence  to  mankind  ; 
for  the  gospel  which  reveals  the  greatness  of  God's 
love  to  the  world,  also  enjoins  upon  every  crea- 
ture the  most  profound  reverence  and  love  for 
the  Deity,  and  the  most  sincere  good  will  to  each 
other.  These  principles  carried  out  into  actions, 
produce  a  cheerful  and  conscientious  performance 
of  all  such  acts  and  services  as  express  reverence, 
trust,  love  and  gratitude  to  the  Most  High  ;  and 
also  all  such  acts  of  justice,  truth,  and  mercy,  as 
express  sympathy,  fellow  feeling,  and  good  will  to 
men.  Therefore  the  same  revelation,  which  teach- 
es the  destiny  that  God  has,  in  his  great  love,  pur- 
posed for  us  his  rational  creatures,  contains  also 
all  those  precepts,  by  obedience  to  which,  we 
may  express  our  piety  and  benevolence,  and  be 
prepared  to  enjoy  the  condition  he  has  assigned 
us  ;  and  hence  the  scriptures  are  the  only  standard 
of  christian  faith,  and  the  only  perfect  manual  of 
moral  duty. 


NATURE  AND  TENDENCY  OF  MORALITY.   157 

The  precepts  of  morality,  touching  the  duty  of 
man  to  man,  found  in  the  gospel,  are  the  divine 
will  in  regard  to  our  conduct  towards  ourselves 
and  fellow  creatures.  And  morality,  thus  un- 
derstood, is  a  part,  yea  an  important  part  of  reli- 
gion ;  and  it  also  makes  a  part  of  the  perfect 
moral  government  of  God,  which  extends  over 
all  intelligent  beings,  whether  angelic  or  hu- 
man, and  whether  living  in  this  or  a  future 
world.  Hence,  as  the  purposes  and  govern- 
ment of  the  Supreme  Ruler  of  Heaven  and 
Earth  extend  over  this  and  a  future  state,  it 
must  be  plain  that  christian  morals  will  in  princi- 
ple, be  the  same  in  a  future  state,  as  they  are  in  this 
state,  and  equally  necessary  to  the  future  as  they 
are  to  the  present  happiness  of  men  and  angels. 

For  if  God  be  unchangeable,  and  the  nature  and 
purposes  of  his  moral  dominion  be  immutable — if 
the  nature  of  man,  and  of  human  felicity,  be  the 
same  in  all  worlds:  then  if  God  requires  his  chil- 
dren to  love  each  other  here,  he  will  ahvavs  re- 
quire them  to  do  so;  and  if  it  be  right  for  chris- 
tians to  respect  justice,  mercy  and  truth,  in  their 
feelings  and  conduct  towards  each  other  and  the 
world  now,  it  will  never  cease  to  be  right  for  them 
to  continue  so  doing.  This  view  of  morality  ren- 
ders it  truly  sacred,  adds  much  to  its  authority 
and  importance,  and  should  awaken  us  to  a  lively 
sense  of  the  vast  interest  we    have    in   gaining   a 


168  PROOFS  DRAWN   FROM   THE 

correct  understanding  of  it  for  ourselves,  and  of 
the  high  obligations  which  rest  upon  us  to  aid  its 
universal  diffusion  through  the  earth. 

Now  as  the  character  and  designs  of  an  earthly 
law-giver  are  known  by  the  character  and  tenden- 
cy of  the  laws  he  enacts ;  as  the  wisdom  and  vir- 
tue of  a  father  are  plainly  inferrable  from  the  wise 
and  salutary  rules  of  moral  conduct  which  he  pre- 
scribes for  the  government  of  his  children  ;  so  the 
benevolence  of  God,  and  his  purpose  to  make  the 
intelligent  universe  ultimately  holy  and  happy,  are 
proved  by  the  tendency  of  the  moral  precepts  of 
the  bible  to  effect  that  most  desirable  object. 

Thus  we  "  make  the  tree  good  and  its  fruit 
good,"  which  is  of  all  others  the  most  satisfactory 
method  of  arriving  at  truth.  For  who  can  rea- 
sonably doubt  the  patriotism  of  that  legislator,  all 
of  whose  acts  tend  to  the  promotion  of  the  pub- 
lic good  ?  Then  who  can  doubt  the  design  of  the 
Kuler  of  the  Universe  to  effect  the  restoration  of 
all  his  erring  children,  when  all  his  moral  prohibi- 
tions and  requirements  tend  to  reform,  and  thus  to 
restore  the  whole  sinful  world  to  the  performance 
of  their  duty,  and  to  the  enjoyment  of  perfect 
happiness,  through  the  mediation  of  his  blessed 
son,  and  by  the  ministry  of  his  word  and  spirit  ? 

This  sentiment  we  shall  now  attempt  to  sustain, 
by  an  inquiry  into  what  is  prohibited,  and  what  is 
enjoined  by  christian   morality  ;  and    by    showing 


NATURE  AND  TENDENCY  OF  MORALITY.         159 

that  both  the  prohibitions  and  injunctions  of  the 
word  of  God  tend  to  produce  and  perpetuate  uni- 
versal happiness. 

First  then,  the  Almighty  Guardian    of  the    hu- 
man race,  who  is  also  the  avenger  of  their  wrongs, 
has  solemnly  prohibited  the  doing  of   the  least  in- 
jury or  wrong  to  any  one  of   our  fellow    creatures 
in  their  persons,  their  properties,  or  their    reputa- 
tions ;   the  uttering  of  falsehood   one    to    another, 
or  the  rendering  of  evil  for  evil  to  any.     All  fraud, 
prevarication,  revenge,  injustice  and  violence,   are 
most  peremptorily    forbidden,   by    the    scriptures. 
Rom.  xiii.  7,  8.     Eph.  iv.  25.     2.  Cor.    viii.    21. 
Not  only  are  all  injurious    actions   prohibited,  but 
we  are  commanded  not  to  be  angry  with  a  broth- 
er without  cause  ;  not  to  speak  evil  of  any    man  ; 
not  to  raise  evil  reports  ourselves  against  a  neigh- 
bor, or  spread  them  when  raised  by  others.    Matt, 
v.  21,  22.     Titus  iii.  2.     But   when    angry  with 
sufficient  cause,  we  are  not  to  retain  it,  lest  it  de- 
generate into  malice  ;  therefore  u  let  not  the  sun 
go  down  upon  your  wrath"  is   the   solemn  injunc- 
tion of  the  Apostle. 

We  are  forbidden  to  pass  rash  judgments  upon 
others,  lest  we  should  be  judged  of  God  ;  and  even 
to  "  think  evil"  of  them,  is  a  violation  of  christian 
duty.  We  may  indeed  be  compelled  to  see  or 
know  evil,  but  we  are  never  to  surmise  or  think  it 
of  any,  without  proof. 


160  PROOFS   DRAWN  FROM  THE 

What  a  protection  is  here   guaranteed  to    every 
son  and  daughter  of  Adam   against  evil    actions, 
words,  passions,  and  designs  !  by  him  who   conde- 
scends to  make  their  cause  his  own,  and  proclaims 
"  vengeance  is  mine,  I  will  repay,  saith  the  Lord." 

Second.  Nor  is  christian  morality  merely  neg- 
ative; it  enforces  in  the  most  explicit  terms, 
the  duty  of  doing  good  to  all  men,  as  far  as  we 
have  ability  and  opportunity—  to  assist  them  in  their 
necessities  and  distresses,  to  sympathise  with  them 
in  afflictions  and- sorrows,  and  to  be  ready  to  distri- 
bute of  our  worldly  substance,  and  earnings  to 
their  relief  and  comfort  ;  to  endeavor  to  convert 
them  from  the  error  of  their  way,  and  to  reprove 
their  faults  in  the  spirit  of  kindness  and  meekness  ; 
and  always  and  by  all  means  to  do  all  in  our  pow- 
er to  promote  their  temporal  and  spiritual  welfare. 
Gal.  vi.  10.  1.  Tim.  vi.  18.  Heb.  xiii.  3,  16. 
James  v.  20.     Gal.  vi.  1.     Rom.  xii.  15. 

By  far  the  most  difficult  part  of  our  duty  towards 
mankind,  is  that  which  relates  to  enemies,  slander- 
ers, and  persecuters ;  to  these  we  are  enjoined  the 
exercise  of  a  mild  and  forgiving  temper,  and  not 
to  be  overcome  of  evil  but  to  overcome  evil  with 
good.  And  not  this  merely ;  but  to  love  ene- 
mies, and  to  pray  for  slanderers  and  persecuters, 
that  they  may  see  the  evil  of  their  w7ay,  and  turn  to 
the  path  of  duty,  is  required  by  Christ  and  his 
apostles,  as  things  which  should  distinguish  their 


NATURE  AND  TENDENCY  OF  MORALITY.    161 

followers.  Matt.  v.  44.  Rom.  xii.  17,  21.  l.Thes. 
v.  15.     1.  Pet.  iii.  9. 

From  these  general  precepts,  it  is  most  manifest 
that  the  gospel  founds  the  duties  of  mankind  to 
each  other  on  love  ;  and  that  it  is  the  great  and  con- 
stant object  to  recommend  and  enforce  the  prac- 
tice of  universal  benevolence,  without  which  there 
can  be  no  perfect  morality,  and  no  true  religion. 

Besides  the  general  precepts  prescribing  the  du- 
ties of  justice  and  benevolence  to  the  whole  race 
of  man,  the  gospel  abounds  in  particular  injunc- 
tions to  those  who  occupy  the  several  stations  and 
relations  of  civil  and  social  life,  which  are  of  the 
highest  importance  to  nations,  families,  and  indi- 
viduals. It  requires  rulers  to  be  the  just,  vigilant, 
and  impartial  protectors  of  their  people  ;  and  the 
people  to  be  submissive  and  obedient  to  their  rul- 
ers, praying  for  their  prosperity  in  righteousness, 
and  rendering  them  all  due  support.  It  requires 
parents  to  protect,  instruct,  govern,  and  train  up 
their  children  for  usefulness  and  happiness  ;  and 
children  to  respect  and  obey  their  parents.  It  in- 
structs masters  to  be  kind  to  their  servants,  remem- 
bering that  they  also  have  a  master  in  heaven  ;  and 
servants  are  required  to  be  faithful,  rendering  ser- 
vice as  to  the  Lord.  Husbands  are  instructed  to 
love,  cherish,  protect,  and  support  their  wives  ;  and 
wives  directed  to  love,   respect,  and  promote  the 

happiness  of  their  husbands,  and  the  order  of  their 

21 


162  PROOFS   DRAWN  FROM   THE 

families  ;  that  by  their  united  examples,  prayers, 
and  efforts,  their  children  maybe  holy  to  the  Lord. 
Likewise,  superiors  and  inferiors,  the  elder  and  the 
younger,  the  rich  and  the  poor,  are  directed  to  a 
proper  course  of  conduct  towards  each  other  ;  and 
precepts  are  given  to  regulate  the  deportment  of 
equals  among  themselves,  instructing  them  to  be 
courteous,  in  honor  preferring  one  another,  not 
willingly  giving  offence  to  any,  and  endeavoring  as 
far  as  possible  to  live  peaceably  with  all  men.  St. 
Matt.  xxii.  21.  Rom.  xiii.  1,  2.  1  Tim.  ii.  1, 
2.  Tit.  iii.  1.  1  Pet.  ii.  13,  15.  Eph.  vi.  5,9, 
Col.  iii.  22,  25,  iv.  1.  1  Tim.  vi.  1,  2.  Tit.  ii.  2,  9, 
10,  11.  Eph.  v.  22,  33.  Col.  iii.  18,  19.  Tit. 
ii.  4,  5.  1  Pet.  iii.  8.  Rom.  xii.  10,  11,  18.  1. 
Cor.  x.  32.      Phil.  ii.  3.      1    Pet.  ii.  17,  iii.  8,  5. 

In  regard  to  those  duties  which  relate  more 
particularly  to  ourselves,  Christianity  imposes  upon 
its  followers  the  habitual  exercise  of  meekness, 
sobriety,  temperance,  chastity ;  with  humility, 
cheerfulness,  and  thanksgiving — to  maintain  a  due 
degree  of  self  respect,  to  assert  their  rights  with 
prudence,  and  to  cultivate  their  mental,  moral, 
and  social  uatures ;  and  thus  to  arrive  at  perfec- 
tion. Eph.  iv.  26,  27,  31,  32.  Col.  iii.  12,  14. 
1  Cor.  vi.  9,  10.  Eph.  v.  20.  Eph.  iv.  1.  1 
Tim.  iv.  12.  Phil.  iv.  4.  Acts  xxii.  25.  Eph.  iv.  13. 

Such  are  briefly  the  outlines  of  the  morality  of 
the  gospel ;  a    morality   admirably    suited    to   the 


NATURE  AND  TENDENCY  OF  MORALITY.   163 

condition  and  character  of  human  nature  as  it  de- 
velopes  itself  in  society  ;  and  which  is  perfectly 
congenial  with  the  pure  and  sacred  doctrines  of 
revelation,  as  flowing  with  them  from  the  same 
fountain  of  wisdom  and  goodness,  and  designed  to 
aid  the  accomplishment  of  the  same  high  and  holy 
purposes  ;  which  brings  us, 

Thirdly.  To  inquire  into  its  tendency.  Does 
it  not  manifestly  conduce  to  moral  and  personal 
happiness,  by  regulating  the  temper,  passions  and 
affections,  furnishing  the  mind  with  those  noble 
sentiments  of  justice,  benevolence,  and  charity, 
which  inspire  it  with  inward  peace,  and  heavenly 
joy  ;  and  also  by  securing  the  body  from  injury, 
disease,  and  suffering,  through  unnecessary  expo- 
sure and  excess  ?  Does  it  not  promote  social  happi- 
ness, by  prohibiting  whatever  could  break  the  peace 
or  embitter  the  relations  of  society  ;  and  by  also 
exciting  all  those  dispositions  of  heart,  and  friend- 
ly offices  of  life,  which  render  the  intercourse  of 
its  members  most  useful  and  happy  ?  Does  it  not 
afford  a  most  pleasing  view  of  human  nature,  as 
being  allied  to  one  Supreme  Father,  and  as  a  band 
of  brothers,  under  mutual  obligations  of  love  and 
good  will  to  each  other  ?  And  in  what  a  heavenly 
light  does  it  present  the  Mighty  Ruler  of  heaven 
and  earth,  as  a  father  in  the  midst  of  his  vast  fam- 
ily, giving  them  such  wise,  just,  and  salutary  di- 
rections, in  regard  to  their   conduct   towards    one 


164         PROOFS  DRAWN  FROM  THE 

another,  as  tends  to  produce  among  all  its  mem- 
bers the  most  perfect  intelligence,  safety,  harmo- 
ny, and  happiness  ? 

Therefore  we  conclude  that  the  morality  of  the 
gospel  tends  to  promote  and  perfect  the  welfare, 
not  of  a  part  of  mankind  only,  but  of  the  whole 
human  race.  The  promised  rewards  to  obedience, 
and  all  experience  as  far  as  experience  extends, 
unite  to  confirm  us  in  this  conclusion.  So  far  as  men 
have  departed  from  this  course  of  moral  conduct, 
they  have  been  scourged  with  personal  and  social 
calamity  ;  sickness,  grief,  discontent,  contention, 
and  war,  have  kept  pace  with  the  departure.  To 
such  degree  as  it  has  been  reduced  to  practice  by  na- 
tions and  communities,  those  nations  and  communi- 
ities  have  been  united,  intelligent,  prosperous,  and 
happy.  If  there  have  been  exceptions  to  this  rule, 
those  ex  ceptions  have  been  the  effect  of  predomi- 
nant vice  in  others,  and  not  of  any  defect  in  the 
rule  itself. 

Having  shown  that  God  has  prohibited  the  ex- 
ercise of  all  such  principles,  and  the  performance 
of  all  such  acts,  as  tend  to  produce  misery ;  is  it 
not,  therefore  most  evident  that  he  did  not  create 
men  for  the  purpose  of  making  them,  or  allowing 
them  to  be  made  miserble,  by  themselves  or  oth- 
ers, as  the  object  of  their  creation  ?  And  if,  as  will 
not  be  denied,  he  has  commanded  them,  and  all  of 
them  to  cultivate  and  exercise   all   such   tempers 


NATURE  AND  TENDENCY  OF  MORALITY.   165 

feelings,  and  virtues,  as  make  men  happy  ;  then, 
does  it  not  also  follow  that  he  created  them  all  for 
happiness,  as  their  final  destination  ?  Can  there  be 
any  doubt  on  this  subject  ?  Is  there  any  doubt 
whether  the  morality  of  Christianity  tends  to  the 
universal  peace  and  well  being  of  mankind  ?  Let 
us  suppose  all  men  to  be  perfect  in  the  practice  of 
all  the  moral  precepts  of  the  gospel  ;  and  then 
would  they  not  all  be  happy  ?  Most  certainly  this 
must  be  admitted.  Then,  if  God  has  required  all 
men  to  do  what  will  make  them  happy,  does  he 
not  will  that  they  should  be  happy  ? 

Again,  if  the  precepts  and  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity came  from  the  same  source,  partake  of  the 
same  spirit,  and  harmonise  as  do  the  tree  and  fruit ; 
then  as  the  precepts  tend  to  make  the  whole  hu- 
man race  happy,  must  it  not  also  follow,  that  all 
the  doctrines  of  the  gospel  have  the  same  gracious 
tendency  ?  Were  it  true  that  obedience  to  the  doc- 
trines and  precepts  of  religion,  conduced  to  hu- 
man misery;  then  we  should  rationally  think  that 
its  Divine  Author  purposed  the  misery  of  man- 
kind. But  as  the  reverse  is  so  manifestly  true, 
we  are  constrained  to  believe  that  God  ever  has, 
does,  and  ever  will  purpose  the  final  and  universal 
salvation  of  his  rational  creatures. 

Should  it  be  admitted  that  the  excellent  morali- 
ty of  the  bible  leads  to  happiness  in  the  same 
sphere  in  which  it  is   obeyed ;  but  at   the    same 


166  PROOFS   DRAVViX   FROM  THE 

time,  be  objected  that  it  can  only  make  men  hap- 
py through  their  obedience  to  its  injunctions,  we 
answer,  this  is  admitting  all  we  ask;  as  it  affords 
the  two  following  inferences, 

1.  That  God  wills  that  all  should  obey,  and  2, 
that  those  who  obey  should  be  happy.  If  there- 
fore the  Divine  Author  of  this  scheme  of  morality 
purposes  it  as  the  rule  of  conduct  to  be  submitted 
to  by  the  world  ;  will  he  not  employ  effectual 
means  to  accomplish  this  purpose,  by  inducing  an 
universal  obedience  ? 

Let  us  now,  my  friends,  consider  briefly  some 
of  those  circumstances  which  encourage  the  be- 
lief that  the  excellent  principles  of  moral  conduct 
and  feeling,  enjoined  by  the  New  Testament  will, 
sooner  or  later,  be  observed  by  the  fulness  of  man- 
kind. The  first  circumstance  to  which  your  at- 
tention is  invited  is  this,  viz.  that  the  capacity 
of  obedience,  (being  an  inherent  capacity  in  the 
soul,  not  proceeding  from  the  present  mode  of  our 
being,  nor  any  future  mode  that  may  be  given  us,) 
will  always  accompany  us,  not  only  in  this  but  a 
future  state.  To  maintain  the  contrary,  would  be 
to  deny  that  the  soul  will  always  in  all  worlds  pos- 
sess the  power  of  loving  its  Maker  and  fellow  crea- 
tures ;  which  would  be  making  it  an  unfit  subject 
for  moral  government,  incapable  alike  of  being  mor- 
ally happy  or  miserable. 


NATURE  AND  TENDENCY  OF  MORALITY.        167 

2.  There  never  will  come  a  period  when  God 
will  not  require  of  every  soul  obedience  to  the 
Gospel  in  thought,  feeling,  and  all  such  exercises 
as  the  mode  of  its  existence  renders  contributarv 
to  the  honor  of  God,  and  to  happiness  of  men  : 
and  therefore  all  his  administrations  towards  men 
in  every  possible  condition,  must,  either  directly 
or  indirectly,  tend  to  effect  in  them  those  exercis- 
es and  sentiments. 

3.  This  code  of  pure  and  holy  morals,  is  so 
connected  with  the  heavenly  doctrines  of  revela- 
tion as  the  fruit  is  with  the  tree  that  produces  it ; 
and  consequently,  as  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel 
furnish  the  motives  to  their  practice,  if  the  fruit  be 
not  good  it  will  prove  the  tree  is  not  good. 

4.  The  moral  precepts  of  the  gospel  are  ex- 
pressed in  the  clearest  maimer,  and  without  the 
least  ambiguity,  describing  not  not  only  what  we 
are  to  do,  and  what  we  are  not  to  do,  and  to  whom, 
but  setting  forth  in  the  plainest  manner  the 
principles,  feelings,  and  motives,  which  are  at  all 
times  to  influence  us. 

So  that  he  who  desires  to  know  his  duty,  and 
studies  the  scriptures  for  that  purpose,  cannot  fail 
of  learning  it ;  and  not  only  this,  but  the  ministers 
of  Christ  are  directed  to  enforce  it  upon  all  peo- 
ple in  all  the  world,  and  all  parents  required  to 
impress  a  sense  of  it  upon  the  tender  minds  of 
their  children.     To  all  which   are  added   the    pe- 


168  PROOFS   DRAWN   FROM  THE 

culiar  force  of  the  most  illustrious  examples  of  Je- 
sus, his  apostles,  and  of  early  christians. 

5.  The  principles  of  responsibility  to  a  Father 
in  heaven,  who  has  all  knowledge  and  all  pow7er, 
are  made  perfectly  plain  ;  not  being  restrained  to 
the  present  state,  but  extended  to  a  future.  So 
that  on  the  one  hand  there  is  no  danger  of  loosing 
our  reward  for  well  doing  however  long  it  may  be 
deferred,nor  on  the  other,  any  possibility  of  escaping 
the  just  punishment  of  evil  doing,  though  it  be  not 
speedily  executed,  except  by  a  sincere  and  hearty 
repentance  followed  by  a  genuine  reformation. 

6.  The  doctrine  of  rewards  and  punishments, 
connected  with  christian  morality,  and  designed  to 
act  as  motives  to  its  obedience,are  such  as  naturally 
excite  our  hopes  and  awaken  our  fears.  The 
things  promised  are  what  we  naturally  most  desire, 
and  the  evils  threatened  are  those  to  which  we 
have  the  most  natural  aversion.  They  are  most 
reasonable,  being  just  and  salutary,  according  to 
our  works,  and  the  motives  by  which  we  are  influ- 
enced therein. 

7.  We  have  now  and  always  shall  have  the 
greatest  interest  in  believing  the  doctrines,  and 
conforming  to  the  precepts  of  Christianity.  This 
interest  cannot  be  affected  by  death  ;  for  our  hap- 
piness will  depend  on  faith  and  reconciliation  to 
God,  in  a  future  state,  as  much  as  it  does  in  the 
present. 


NATURE  AND  TENDENCY  OF  MORALITY.        169 

And  this  interest  will  be  made  more  and  more 
apparent  to  us  by  the  enlightning  influences  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  which  God  will  pour  out  upon  all  flesh, 
and  also  by  our  own  experience,  which  will  never 
cease  to  teach  us  that  holiness  of  heart  is  neces- 
sary to  our  happiness. 

Now,  if  men  will  never  cease  to  have  the  power 
to  render  obedience  ;  if  God  will  never  ceaseto  re- 
quire it ;  if  it  be  the  natural  effects  of  the  doctrines 
of  the  gospel,  as  good  fruit  is  the  effect  of  a  good 
tree  ;  if  the  duty  of  it  be  so  plainly  expressed  as  that 
all  may  easily  know  it ;  if  all  men  are  now  and  ever 
will  be  responsible  to  God  who  sees  the  heart ;  if 
the  punishments  as  well  as  the  rewards  of  the  gos- 
pel tend  to  subdue  and  bring  to  obedience  ;  if  man 
shall  never  cease  to  have  an  interest  in  conform- 
ing to  the  requirements  of  the  gospel  in  regard  to 
faith  and  practice,  and  if  a  thorough  consciousness  of 
that  interest  must  and  will  be  impressed  on  the 
heart  of  every  man  by  the  spirit  of  God,  and  by 
his  own  experience  ;  what,  we  respectfully  ask, 
can  prevent  every  creature  from  rendering  a  per- 
fect obedience  to  those  doctrines  and  precepts 
which  are  essential  to  their  happiness,  the  desire 
of  which  is  the  strongest  desire  of  their  natures  ? 
Can  they  be  forever  deceived  in  so  plain  a  mat- 
ter ;  or  continue  forever  knowingly,  to  sacrifice 
their  own  eternal  happiness  ? 

22 


170         PROOFS  DRAWN  FROM  THE 

Further,  the  scriptures  appeal  to  our  sense  of 
propriety  and  self  respect,  saying,  "  walk  worthy 
of  your  holy  calling  ;"  to  our  sense  of  justice  and 
humanity,  "  do  unto  others  as  you  would  that 
they  should  do  unto  you  ;"  to  the  sense  of  pure 
gratitude  to  our  blessed  Lord,  who  said,  "  love 
one  another  as  I  have  loved  you,"  and  "  follow 
the  Lamb  whithersoever  he  goeth ;"  and  to  the 
highest  principle  of  emulation  of  which  the  soul 
is  capable,  requiring  us  to  imitate  our  heavenly 
Father,  which  is  at  once  our  glory  and  happiness, 
saying  "  love  your  enemies,  do  good  to  them  that 
hate  you,  and  pray  for  them  that  despitefully  use 
you  and  persecute  you  ;  that  ye  may  be  the  chil- 
dren of  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven,  for  he 
maketh  his  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and  on  the  good, 
and  sendeth  his  rain  upon  the  just  and  upon  the 
unjust." 

By  all  these  and  other  motives  does  the  gospel 
persuade  us  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come  and 
the  punishment  of  the  disobedient,  and  seek  to 
encourage  us  to  gain  the  reward  of  the  righteous, 
with  the  final  plaudit  of  our  judge  at  the  las!t  day, 
of  "  well  done  good  and  faithful  servants,  enter 
ye  into  thejoy  of  your  Lord." 

And  He  who  instituted  and  employs  these  means, 
the  merits  and  grace  of  his  son  Jesus  Christ,  and 
the.  influences  of  his  holy  and  quickening  spirit,  to 
effect  the  obedience  of  the  world,  has   assured   us 


NATURE  AND  TENDENCY  OF  MORALITY.   171 

of  their  success,  saying  "  my  people  shall  be  will- 
ing in  the  day  of  my   power  ;"  so   "  that    at    the 
name  of  Jesus  every  knee  shall  bow,  of  things   in 
heaven,  (angels  and  men  who  have  died    in  faith) 
and  things  in  earth,  (all  men  living  in  the  millenium) 
and  things  under  the   earth,    (all  who   shall    have 
died  in  unbelief)  ;  and  that  every  tongue  shall  con- 
fess, that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God 
the    father ;"  living  "  according   to    God    in    the 
spirit."    Psa.  110,  3.  Phil.  ii.  9,  10.   1  Pet.  iv.  6. 
Have  we    not    now    shown   that    the    christian 
scheme  of  moral  sentiments  and  conduct  is  found- 
ed on  God's  unlimited   benevolence    towards    the 
human  race,  and  conduces  to  universal  happiness  ? 
Have  we  not  also  answered  the  objection,  that  all 
will  not  yield  obedience   to   these    beneficent    re- 
quirements, and  therefore,  will  not   be    benefitted 
by  them  ;  by  showing    that    the    motives    to  this 
obedience  will  and   must    ultimately   prevail,   and 
a  universe  be  made  to  share  in  its  benefits  ?  and  is 
it  not  therefore  true  that  the  morality  of  the  gos- 
pel, while  it  justly  endears  itself  to  every    reason- 
able and  benevolent  mind  by  its   benign    influence 
upon  individuals  and  society,   is   a    most  practical 
and  powerful  witness  in  favor  of   the  universal  re- 
storation ? 

I  now  close  by  saying,  "  if  ye  know  these  things, 
happy  are  ye  if  ye  do  them  ;'\for  he  that  practices 
the  precepts  of  revealed  religion,  honors   its    doc- 


172        PROOFS  DRAWN  FROM  THE 

trines,  and  adorns  the  christian  profession,  pro- 
motes his  own  best  interest,  advances  the  salvation 
of  the  world,  and  contributes  to  the  praise  and  glory 
of  God ;  wherefore  I  pray  that  heaven  will  abun- 
dantly strengthen  you  unto  every  good  word  and 
work  to  do  his  will. 


LECTURE   X. 

PROOFS  OF  THE  FINAL  RESTORATION. 

EPHESIANS,  I.   9,10. 

"  HAVING  MADE  KNOWN  UNTO  US  THE  MYSTERY  OF  HIS  WILL,  AC- 
CORDING TO  HIS  GOOD  PLEASURE,  WHICH  HE  HATH  PURPOSED  IN 
HIMSELF  :  THAT  IN  THE  DISPENSATION  OF  THE  FULNESS  OF  TIMES 
HE  MIGHT  GATHER  TOGETHER  IN  ONE,  ALL  THINGS  IN  CHRIST, 
BOTH  WHICH  ARE  IN  HEAVEN,  AND  WHICH  ARE  ON  EARTH  ;  EVEN 
IN  HIM." 

This  evening,  we  propose  to  finish  the  present 
course  of  lectures  by  presenting  to  your  consid- 
eration the  arguments  in  favor  of  the  Universal  Re- 
storation, deduced  from   the  nature   of  man,    and 


174         PROOFS  DRAWN  FROM  THE 

the  scriptural  character  of  future  happiness  ;  in- 
troductory to  which,  it  is  proper  to  notice  some 
leading  facts  on  the  subject,  stated  in  the  text. 

First.  That  the  will,  purpose,  and  pleasure  of 
God,  on  the  great  subject  of  man's  redemption 
and  destiny,  are  precisely  the  same ;  it  is  there- 
fore no  less  his  will,  purpose,  or  decree,  that  ev- 
ery rational  creature  should  sincerely  repent,  be- 
lieve and  obey  the  gospel,  than  it  is  his  desire,  and 
good  pleasure,  that  they  should  so  do  and  be 
saved. 

Second.  That  it  is  the  great  object  of  Jehovah 
to  subdue  and  unite  under  one  spiritual  ruler  and 
head,  even  Christ,  all  the  nations,  and  kindreds  of 
men ;  that  they  henceforth  should  forever  enjoy 
his  protection  and  favor,  and  be  pure  and  happy 
in  his  service. 

Third.  That  there  is  a  set  time  when  this  great 
purpose  of  the  Lord  shall  be  accomplished,  i.  e. 
"  the  dispensation  of  the  fulness  of  times  ;"  and 
hence  we  may  not  expect  it  previous  to  that  time, 
nor  doubt  of  its  being  then  accomplished. 

Fourth.  That  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  when 
perfected  and  united,  will  comprise  all  the  inhabit- 
ants of  earth  and  heaven  ;  so  that  not  only  all 
men  and  all  angels  will  be  under  the  dominion  of 
Christ  Jesus,  their  Lord  and  our's,  but  they  will 
be  gathered  together,  and  united  in  their  charac- 
ter and  service — not  separated. 


MATURE    OF    MAN,  &C.  175 

On  this  subject,  the  best  commentators  agree 
that  it  is  the  glorious  purpose  of  God  to  unite  the 
Jews  and  Gentiles  in  the  love  and  service  of  his 
son,  Jesus  Christ;  to  assemble  the  living  and  the 
dead  in  a  future  life  of  blessedness  ;  and  to  gather 
the  multitude  of  aagels  and  the  vast  company  of 
the  redeemed,  mutually  to  enjoy  his  kingdom,  and 
forever  to  celebrate  his  praise  ! 

What  a  blessed  union  will  this  be  !  What  a  glo- 
rious gathering  of  souls  to  Christ !  The  time  of 
it,  although  future,  will  certainly  come  ;  for  the 
scriptures  assert  in  a  very  distinct  manner,  that  Je- 
sus must  reign,  till  he  hath  subdued  all  things  unto 
himself.  And  when  this  is  done,  but  not  before, 
he  will  resign  the  kingdom  to  the  Father,  that 
God  may  be  all  in  all. 

This  doctrine  of  God's  will  to  unite  all  men  and 
angels  in  Christ,  at  the  close  of  his  dispensations 
towards  them,  is,  in  the  text,  called  a  mystery; 
but  it  is  said  to  be  such,  only  in  reference  to  the 
time  previous  to  its  being  fully  revealed  ;  for  since 
its  revelation,  it  is  capable  of  being  clearly  under- 
stood, and  is  supported  by  the  most  satisfactory 
scripture  proofs,  as  well  as  from  the  nature  of 
man,  and  his  final  state  of  happiness. 

What  proof  then,  does  this  proposition  derive 
from  the  nature  and  character  of  man  ? 

In  answering  this  inquiry,  it  must  not  be  ex- 
pected that  we  shall  enter  upon  a  detailed  and  phi- 


176       PROOFS  DRAWN  FROM  THE 

losophical  investigation  of  human  nature.  It  will  be 
necessary  only  to  call  the  attention  to  some  general 
traits  of  character,  belonging  to  the  human  race, 
in  common  with  each  other,  to  show  that  it  is  rea- 
sonable and  scriptural  that  they  should  collectively 
as  well  as  individually,  be  gathered  to  the  same 
state  of  happiness  ;  and  these  we  shall  learn  from 
the  holy  scriptures  themselves. 

Man  was  distinguished  in  his  creation  from  the 
from  the  whole  animal  race  around  him,  by  being 
made  in  the  "  image  of  God  ;"  by  being  formed 
last,  and  therefore,  the  most  perfect  in  body,  mind, 
and  affections ;  and  by  being  placed  over  the  other 
works  of  God.  The  care  of  the  garden  in  which 
he  was  placed,  and  his  dominion  over  all  living  on 
the  earth  and  in  the  sea,  liken  him  in  his  office 
and  station,  to  the  Supreme  Governor  of  the  uni- 
verse. Let  it  be  noted  that  this  dominion  is  a  joint 
dominion  ;  for,  it  is  not  true,  to  much  extent,  that 
any  man  individually  has  it :  but  associated,  he 
holds  it  with  ease.  Hence  the  honor  and  advan- 
tages of  it,  belong  to  all  as  sharers.  It  is  not  so 
much  the  sway  of  physical  as  of  mental  power  ; 
because  reason  and  intelligence  are  the  properties 
of  the  immortal  soul,  and  not  of  the  body.  The 
soul  is  the  seat  of  virtue,  reason  and  skill ;  and 
its  influence  and  dominion  are  given,  directed, 
and  restrained  by  its  Maker.  It  governs  the  body, 
in  which  it  is  placed,  in  a  most  wonderful  manner, 


NATURE    OF    MAN,  &C.  177 

directing  its  energies  and  restraining  its  propensi- 
ties, at  its  own  will.  And,  by  employing  the  body 
as  its  instrument,  and  by  other  means  within  its 
command,  it  governs  the  animal  creation,  traver- 
ses and  subdues  the  earth,  navigates  the  seas  and 
gathers  their  treasure  ;  it  erects  governments,  es- 
tablishes commerce,  and  cultivates  the  arts  and 
sciences  ;  it  erects  cities,  rears  temples,  and  forms 
associations  commensurate  with  earth  itself.  By 
it  also  he  analyses  the  earth,  the  air,  and  the  light ; 
ascends  to  the  heavens,  names,  numbers  and  class- 
es the  stars  ;  looks  on  the  far  distant  planets,  tra- 
ces their  course  in  their  mighty  orbits,  and  reduces 
to  system  and  harmony  their  vast  and  mazy  move- 
ments in  the  immensity  of  space.  And  by  faith, 
the  soul  explores  a  future  and  a  higher  world,  lives 
a  future  life,  ascends  to  the  throne  of  its  Maker, 
and  lays  up  its  treasure  in  heaven 

Now  when  we  consider  these  distinctions  and 
powers  possessed  by  the  creature  man — the  pecu- 
liar notice  taken  of  his  creation  by  the  angels  of 
God,  those  elder  sons  of  paradise,  who,  as  morning 
stars  and  sons  of  the  Highest,  sang  together  and 
shouted  for  joy  at  the  birth  of  the  great  progenitor 
of  men — when  we  reflect  upon  the  vastness,  the 
variety  and  usefulness  of  every  part  of  the  crea- 
tion placed  under  his  control,  and  see  that  nothing 
was  made  in  vain,  is  it  reasonable  to  suppose  that 

man,  made  for  such  dignity,  and  to  confer  such  pro- 

23 


178  PROOFS  DRAWN  FROM  THE 

teetion  and  happiness  on  all  other  creatures,  should 
himself  he  unhappy  ?  Here  let  it  he  remarked,  that 
the  happiness  suited  to  the  nature  of  man,  is,  like 
his  dominion,  a  joint  one  ;  and  to  be  perfectly  hap- 
py, they  must  all  he  happy. 

Again  :  The  human  family  are  one  by  nature  ; 
for  God  "  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of 
of  men,  for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth." 
Therefore  the  national  and  other  distinctions  and 
differences,  which  exist  among  men,  must  all  pass 
away,  and  one  condition  be  finally  assigned  to 
them  all,  as  most  suited  to  their  character  as  so- 
cial beings — as  the  offspring  of  one  earthly  pro- 
genitor, from  whom  they  derived  their  common 
nature,  capacities,  senses,  desires,  and  aversions— 
and  as  best  comporting  with  their  responsibleness  to 
one  heavenly  Father  for  the  manner  in  which  they 
employ  their  powers,  and  improve  their  means  of 
happiness,  individual  and  social.  They  possessed 
the  earth,  originally,  as  tenants  in  common,  and 
are  alike  capable  of  living  in  every  climate  and 
region  of  it,  and  of  finding  there  the  comforts  of 
life  for  their  support  ;  which  shows  that  God  is 
equally  good  to  them  as  the  inhabitants  of  this 
world,  having  made  equal  provision  for  their  tem- 
poral happiness. 

Further,  mankind  have  equally  apostatised  from 
their  Maker,  and  violated  their  obligations  to  him  ; 
"  for  all  have  sinned  and  come  short    of   the  glory 


NATURE    OF    MAN,  &C.  179 

of  God."  If  therefore  the  purpose  of  the  Lord  be 
changed  in  regard  to  any,  on  account  of  sin,  it 
must  be  equally  changed  in  regard  to  all ;  for  all 
have  sinned.  Nor  is  this  all.  One  Saviour  hath 
come  down  from  heaven  to  live,  suffer  and  die 
for  their  universal  redemption ;  and  if  his  media- 
tion be  sufficient  to  restore  any  part,  consistently 
with  their  free  agency,  why  is  it  not  so  for  the 
restoration  of  the  residue  ? 

Now,  seeing  the  whole  posterity  of  Adam  in- 
herit his  nature,  his  capacities,  his  obligations,  and 
his  guilt,  by  their  descent  from  him,  and  by  their 
adopting  his  character ;  it  in  justice  follows  that 
his  destiny  will  be  theirs  ;  for  if  God  created  Ad- 
am for  happiness,  then  he  created  all  his  descend- 
ants to  share  the  same  felicity  ;  for  they,  in  their 
nature,  are  but  the  first  man  extended.  To  say 
therefore  that  God  made  the  first  and  great  pro- 
genitor of  mankind  for  misery,  would  be  saying 
that  lie  intended  the  whole  race  for  the  same  end  ; 
which  no  one  can  admit  for  a  moment. 

Hence  we  infer  from  the  unity  of  human  na- 
ture, the  joint  dominion  given  to  it  over  the  works 
of  God,  the  similarity  of  the  capacities  of  men, 
their  equal  responsibility  and  guilt,  and  the  equal 
means  provided  for  their  welfare,  here  and  here- 
after ;  that  they  will  not  be  separated  from  each 
other  in  their  final  destination.  This  inference  is 
supported  by  the  consideration  of  the  vast  and  in- 


180  PROOFS   DRAWN   FROM  THE 

comprehensible  capacities  of  the    human   intellect 
for  improvement  in  knowledge,  virtue,  and  the  so- 
cial principle  ;  by  its  capacity  for    the    service    of 
men,  and  for  communion  with  God  ;  and  by   the 
actual  proficiency  which  has  been  made  in  science, 
devotion,  and  philanthropy,    by   such  persons   as 
Newton,    Fenelon,    Howard,     and    many  others. 
The  principles  which  governed  these  men  in  their 
illustrious  course,  are  capable  of  being  brought    to 
act  on  all  human  minds  as  a  stimulent  leading  them 
to  emulate  the    bright    examples    of  their    distin- 
guished lives.     And  to  what  heights  of  refinement, 
knowledge  and  sympathy,  is  not  the  human  mind 
capable  of  being  advanced  by  the  means  of  grace 
and  the  power  of  God  ?  Will   the  All-Wise  Crea- 
tor, then,  suffer  such  capacities  to  be  forever  lost  to 
himself,  to  their   possessors,    and  to    the  world  ? 
Surely  not.     For  God  himself  hath  proclaimed  his 
solemn  purpose  to  bring  them  to  be  perfect,  to  be 
one  in  Christ — to  be  one  in  heaven.     Eph.  i.  10  ; 
iv.  13.     Rev.  v.  13.     If  such  be  not   the  purpose 
of  God,    why  are  all  men  called  to  the  practice  of 
virtue,  and  to  seek  a  state  of  glory  ?  Why  are  we 
required  to  offer  prayers    for   all,  and   to   practice 
universal  benevolence  ?  Why  did  Jesus  give   him- 
self a  ransom  for  all ;  send   his   gospel   to   every 
creature  ;  and  promise  the  outpouring  of  the  holy 
spirit  upon  all  flesh  ?  Do  not  these   things,  which 
are  admitted  by  all  christians,  show  clearly  that  it 


NATURE    OF    MAN,  &C.  181 

is  the  plan  and  counsel  of  the  Lord,  to  bring  all 
his  rational  creatures,  as  a  united  family,  to  glorify 
his  name,  and  to  enjoy  his  kingdom  forever  ? 

Second.  Let  us  inquire  into  the  proofs  of  this 
sentiment,  afforded  by  the  nature  and  character  of 
the  happiness  of  the  redeemed,  as  described  in  the 
holy  scriptures.  It  will  be  kept  in  mind  that  the 
question  under  discussion  is  this,  viz.  whether 
the  final  happiness  of  mankind  will  be  universal, 
or  extend  only  to  a  part.  In  seeking  the  evidence 
of  its  universality,  we  may  first  notice  some  things 
in  regard  to  the  nature  of  heavenly  felicity  ;  which 
we  shall  attempt  with  a  reverence  befitting  its  sa- 
cred character. 

Heaven  is  a  pure,  spiritual  and    happy  state    of 
the  perfected  souls  and  bodies  of  the   redeemed  ; 
immortal,  sanctified  and  forever  delivered  from   all 
suffering  and  death,  and  blessed  with  the    beatific 
vision    of    God,    of  Christ,  and    of  angels — with 
a   view   of  the    unfolded   mysteries   of  eternity, 
the  glories  of  redemption,  and  the  joy   of  saints 
— an   enchanting    sense  of  the  divine    favor,  and 
of  an   overflowing    gratitude    for   the    unutterable 
grace   which    pitied    and   redeemed    them,    with 
the   happy    assurance    of  the   endless    perpetuity 
of  all  their  bliss.     It  is  not  local,  that  is,  its  inhab- 
itants do  not  derive  their   happiness    wholly    from 
the  place,  but  principally  from  the  moral  and  re- 
conciled  state    of    the    soul — from  a  holy  com- 
munion with  God,  and    a   sacred  regard   to  each 


16Z  PROOFS  DRAWN   FROM  THE 

other  as  fellow  heirs  of  glory.  Hence  the  idea 
that  men  can  go  there  by  means  of  any  physical 
change,  such  as  death  or  the  resurrection,  without 
any  mental  preparation  or  renewal  of  heart,  is 
most  visionary  and  unfounded.  That,  however, 
there  is  in  the  universe  a  place  where  God  will 
make  -special  manifestations  of  his  glory  ;  where 
the  saints  will  be  gathered  and  united  with  the 
holy  angels  ;  and  where  there  will  be  appropriate 
and  refined  pleasures,  suited  to  the  spiritualised 
senses  of  the  immortal  body,  and  that  this  place  is 
properly  called  heaven,  is  most  likely. 

There  is  in  the  scriptures  a  great  variety  of  im- 
agery employed  to  set  forth  the  nature  and  felicity 
of  this  heavenly  state.  It  is  compared  to  a  coun- 
try, abounding  with  health,  peace,  plenty,  safety 
and  righteousness  ; — -whose  rivers  are  pure,  and 
whose  trees  are  ever  blooming  and  yielding  their 
fruit  every  month  ; — whose  mountains  are  brought 
low,  and  whose  valies  are  exalted,  making  one 
vast  beautiful  plain,  beneath  a  glory  far  surpassing 
the  brightness  of  the  sun  in  his  strength.  To  this 
"  better  country,"  the  inhabitants  of  every  region 
shall  triumphantly  and  joyfully  come  to  sit  down 
"  with  Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob,"  and  share 
with  them  its  happy  society,  and  its  blisful  scenes. 

Again,  it  is  likened  to  a  kingdom,  whose  king  is 
most  wTise,  powerful  and  good  ;  whose  laws  are 
most  righteous,  holy  and  equal ;  whose  subjects  are 


NATURE    OF    MAN,  &C.  183 

the  most  united,  secure,  loyal,  and  happy.  A 
kingdom  which  will  swallow  up  the  glory  of  all 
other  kingdoms  in  its  growth  and  grandeur,  and 
surpass  all  other  dominions  in  the  perpetuity  of  its 
reign,  and  the  eternity  of  its  prosperity  and  splen- 
dor. To  a  city,  with  pearly  gates  and  golden 
streets, — beautiful  squares,  and  rich  dwellings  ; 
living  fountains  and  righteous  citizens.  To  a  house 
eternal  in  the  heavens,  with  spacious  mansions, 
and  sure  foundations.  To  a  rich  and  splendid 
feast,  attended  by  numerous,  intelligent,  and  con- 
genial guests.  To  a  family  of  heavenly  descent, 
divine  parentage,  rich  inheritance,  and  numerous 
members,  gathered  from  earth  and  heaven,  to 
dwell  together  forever  in  the  sweetest  communion 
of  fellowship  and  love.  And  to  a  chorus  of  celes- 
tial praise  to  God  and  the  Lamb,  in  which  every 
creature  in  the  universe  are  performers  on  the 
golden  harps  of  eternity,  each  contributing  his 
share  to  the  harmony  and  to  the  happiness  of  all. 

What  is  the  principle  that  runs  through  all  these 
images  of  future  happiness  ?  Is  it  not  that  of  asso- 
ciation or  the  combining  of  many  in  one  body  ?  It 
requires  many  people  to  make  a  great  and  happy 
nation — many  subjects  to  make  a  powerful  and 
prosperous  kingdom,  and  many  citizens  to  compose 
a  city  of  distinguished  advantages.  The  same 
principle  holds  true  in  the  case  of  an  assembly,  a 
family,  or  a  concert  of  praise.     Men   individually 


184         PROOFS  DRAWN  FROM  THE 

can  perform  or  enjoy  but  little  ;  but  when  associ- 
ated in  a  proper  manner,  they  can  perform  won- 
ders, and  produce  surprising  sensations  of  pleasure 
and  happiness.  Human  nature  is  decidedly  so- 
cial, being  formed  to  live  in  families,  cities,  and 
kingdoms  ;  but  ultimately  to  be  united  in  one  uni- 
versal empire  of  peace  and  joy. 

Another  principle  observable  in  the  above  im- 
ages of  happiness,  is  that  of  unity  in  the  charac- 
ter, feelings  and  views  of  those  who  are  associated, 
in  order  to  their  individual  or  social  welfare  and 
pleasure.  For,  "  how  can  two  walk  together  ex- 
cept they  be  agreed  ?"  But  when  all  men  "  shall 
be  of  one  heart  and  of  one  mind,"  and  "  see  eye  to 
eye  ;"  then  shall  the  knowledge  and  glory  of  the 
Lord  fill  the  earth  "  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea."1' 
The  happiness  of  heaven  therefore,  like  the  hap- 
piness of  the  present  world,  is  social,  and  to  be 
perfect,  must  be  mutual,  and  to  be  mutual,  all  who 
share  it  must  have  the  same  qualifications.  If 
then  holiness  be  necessary  to  heaven,  all  who  are 
admitted  there,  must  possess  it ;  and  if  they  are 
equally  happy,  must  be  equally  holy.  If  repent- 
ance and  faith  be  prerequisites  to  holiness,  then 
those  who  leave  this  world  in  unbelief  and  impen- 
itence, are  unholy  and  unprepared  for  heaven.  Yet 
the  felicity  of  heaven,  to  be  perfect,  must  be  uni- 
versal, and  hence  those  that  are  not  prepared  in 
this  life,  must  be  qualified  for  it  in  another  and  fu- 


NATURE    OF    MAN,  &C.  185 

ture,  i.  e.   an    intermediate    state.     And    for  this 
purpose,  the  means  of  grace  and  repentance  must 
as    necessarily    extend  through   the    intermediate 
state,  and  the  age  of  judgment,  as  does  the  king- 
dom of  Christ,  who  "  is  Lord"  and  Ruler  "of  the 
dead  and  living,"  to  whom  all  that  die  in  unbelief 
must  bow,    according  as  we  have  shown  in  a  pre- 
vious lecture.     To  illustrate  the   social   nature   of 
happiness,  we  may  look  at  the  descriptions    of  it, 
given  above.     Take  for  instance,  that   given   un- 
der the  idea    of  a    family.     The    happiness    of  a 
family  is  strictly  social  and  reciprocal ;   for  if  "  one 
member   suffer,    all    the     members     suffer     with 
it,  or  one  member  be   honored,  all    the    members 
rejoice  with  it,"  so  that  no   one  liveih   or   dieth 
to  himself,    but  each   liveth  for  the  good  of  the 
others.      This    agrees  perfectly    with   our   expe- 
rience ;    for   while    one    parent,    brother   or    sis- 
ter  of  an    affectionate   family  be  sick,  or    suffers 
greatly  in  body  or  mind,  every  member  shares  the 
calamity.     The  same  principle  holds  good   in  the 
case  of  a  city  ;  if  sickness  and  pestilence  prevail ; 
if  poverty  and  want  oppress ;   if  vice    and    irreli- 
gion  spread   corruption  among    the    youth,  every 
citizen  participates  in   the    evil,    and  sympathises 
with  the   immediate  sufferers.     And    it   becomes 
more  and  more  so,  as  the  citizens  become  refined 
in  their  feelings,  and   improved    in    the    religious, 

moral  and  social  virtues  of  the  heart.     The  lively 

24 


186  PROOFS  DRAWN  FROM  THE 

and  sincere  christian,  shares  much  more  largely  in 
the  tribulations  around  him,  than  does  the  harden- 
ed and  scoffing  infidel.  The  happiness  of  good  men, 
therefore,  in  the  present  world,  is    severely    taxed 
by  the  criminal  and  innocent  sufferings  which   ev- 
ery where  salute  his  eyes,  and  appeal  to  his  heart. 
Were  there  in  our  favored    city,    for  the   year  to 
come,  to  be  no  sickness,  death,  mourning — no  in- 
temperance, fraud,  lasciviousness — no  malice,  evil 
speaking,  or  contention — but  were  perfect  benevo- 
lence, cheerfulness  and  plenty  to  be   universal    a- 
mong  us ;  would  not    the    happiness    of  the    best 
men,  and  sincerest  christians,  be  much  advanced 
from  what  it  now  is  ?  Truly  it  would.  But  would 
it  be  as  much  so,  if  all  the  vicious  were  to  be  ban- 
ished, as  if  they  were  to  be  reformed  ?  AnswTer,  O 
ye  parents,  who  deplore  the  vices  of  some  of  your 
dear  children  ;  answer  it,  every  good  citizen.  Yet 
were  the  vicious  already  out  of  it,  how  should  we 
be  shocked  at  the  proposal  to  admit  them  into  such  a 
peaceful  and  happy  association,  without  their  being 
first    separated  from  their  destructive  and  pestilen- 
tial vices!  But  if  so  prepared  to  add  to  our  num- 
ber and  happiness,  how  joyfully  should    we    hail 
their  admission  !   "  Even  so  there  is  joy  among  the 
angels  of  God  over  one  sinner  that  repenteth." 

These  principles  applied  to  the  whole  human 
race,  prove  that  as  a  family  or  city,  cannot  be  per- 
perfectly  blessed   while  any    of  its    members   are 


NATURE    OF    MAN,  &C.  187 

separated  from  them,  or  are  vicious  and  miserable 
with  them  ;  so  no  one  of  all  mankind  can  be  per- 
fect in  felicity,  until  all  their  number  are  perfected 
in  Christ,  and  joined  with  them  in  the  joys  of  hea- 
ven. Hence,  the  social  character  of  heaven,  as 
well  as  the  unity  and  sympathy  of  human  nature, 
prove  that  happiness  must  be  universal  \  because 
otherwise  it  cannot  be  perfect,  neither  in  degree, 
nor  extent. 

Now  he  that  wills  the  perfection  of  human  fe- 
licity, will  surely  so  refine  the  hearts  of  all  his 
ransomed  children,  by  his  grace  ;  so  quicken  and 
expand  their  sympathies  by  the  quickening  power 
of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  so  enlarge  their  under- 
standings and  views  by  the  light  of  the  gospel,  as 
that  they  shall  look  upon  all  people  as  their  breth- 
ren, love  them  as  they  do  their  own  souls,  and 
feel  rising  high  in  their  sympathetic  bosoms  the 
raptures  of  heavenly  joy  at  the  safe  arrival  of  each 
from  the  captivity  of  death  and  sin  to  the  freedom 
of  perfect  rest  in  the  paradise  of  God.  And  this 
noble  sympathy,  so  completely  resembling  the 
compassion  of  Jesus  who  pitied  a  lost  world  and 
redeemed  it  by  his  ignominious  and  painful  death, 
will  be  the  source  of  the  purest  and  sublimest 
pleasure,  derived  from  the  happiness  of  others  ; 
but  which,  should  one  of  the  vast  fraternity  of  the 
human  race  fail  of  gaining  it,  would  fill  heaven 
with  weeping  at  the  distant  sound  of  his  hopeless 
waitings  in  endless  despair. 


188  PROOFS   DRAWN  FROM  THE 

But,  I  forbear — Christ  having  wept  over  a  fall- 
en world  in  the  arms  of  death  ;  God  will  wipe 
tears  from  off  all  faces,  that  the  followers  of  the 
Lamb  may  henceforth  forever  "  rejoice  with  them 
that  do  rejoice."  Here  no  mother  will  lament  a 
daughter  lost ;  no  father  grieve  over  the  ruin  of  a 
prodigal  son.  Here  every  soul  will  have  felt  the 
evil  of  sin,  its  need  of  a  Saviour,  and  its  obliga- 
tions to  divine  grace;  it  will  have  passed  the 
scenes  of  bitter  repentance,  stood  before  the  judg- 
ment seat  of  Christ,  plead  guilty  before  God, 
sought  and  obtained  pardon  in  the  name  of  Jesus. 
Here  each  will  wear  the  robes  of  a  Saviour's 
grace,  and  be  crowned  with  a  Saviour's  righteous- 
ness ;  and  all  be  united  in  perfect  love  to  God  and 
each  other,  and  in  celebrating  the  fadeless  glories 
of  redemption. 

This  glorious  restitution  of  all  things,  of  which 
God  hath  spoken  by  the  mouth  of  all  his  holy 
prophets  since  the  world  began,  is  a  result  of  the 
christian  system  devoutly  to  be  desired.  It  will  be 
the  capstone  of  the  moral  and  spiritual  temple  of 
virtue  and  glory  ;  it  will  confer  immortal  honor 
and  praise  upon  its  divine  founder  and  builder  ;  and 
it  will  be  the  source  of  endless  joy  and  blessedness 
to  the  redeemed.  To  it  there  are  no  well  founded 
objections,  as  has  been  shown.  The  scriptural 
views  of  election — that  all  are  chosen  of  God  to 
aid  in  rearing  it,  and  finally  to  enjoy  it?  are  in    its 


NATURE     OF    MAN,   &C.  189 

favour ;  the  condition  and  means  of  grace  will  all 
aid  its  completion  ;  the  punishments  of  the  wick- 
ed being  not  endless  but  emendatory,  will  be  its 
powerful  support ;  and  hence  the  genuine  ten- 
dency of  its  prevalence  in  society,  must  be  to 
check  and  remedy  the  spread  of  vice  and  irreligion, 
and  to  promote  the  triumph  of  virtue  and  piety 
among  men.  And  not  only  this,  but  the  united 
operation  of  all  the  attributes  of  God  ;  the  mission, 
works,  and  death  of  Christ ;  the  united  voice  of 
revelation  ;  the  tendency  of  the  moral  precepts  of 
the  gospel ;  the  nature  of  man,  and  the  character 
of  his  future  happiness,  all  join  to  establish  it  as 
the  truth  of  God  founded  on  the  Rock  of  Ages. 

This  doctrine  also  establishes  the  certainty  of  a 
future,  just  and  equitable  punishment  for  those 
who  die  impenitent,  and  the  gracious  and  salutary 
design  of  such  a  retribution  ;  and  therefore  proves 
most  conclusively  and  rationally  that  the  doctrine 
of  no  future  punishment  on  the  one  hand,  and  of 
endless  misery  on  the  other,  are  unscriptural  and 
pernicious  :  the  one  releasing  men  from  a  suitable 
sense  of  their  responsibility  to  God,  and  of  their 
obligations  to  profess  and  obey  the  christian  reli- 
gion, and  the  other  clothing  the  character  of  God 
and  of  Christianity  with  an  inexorable  severity,  sub- 
versive of  the  grand  design  of  God  to  gather  to- 
gether in  one  all  things  in  Christ. 


190  PROOFS  DRAWN   FROM  THE 

To  conclude,  my  beloved  brethren,  I  now  com- 
mend to  vour  serious  consideration  and  devout  obe- 
dience,  the  doctrine  of  the  restoration,  as  one 
most  happily  suited  to  make  men  truly  religious 
without  being  superstitious ;  liberal  and  cheer- 
ful, without  levity  and  skepticism ;  a  doctrine 
equally  necessary  to  the  happiness  of  each,  and  one 
therefore  in  which  all  should  feel  an  equal  interest — 
against  which  there  is  no  objection,  and  in  fa- 
vor of  which,  reason  and  revelation  both  unite — 
which,  when  it  shall  be  accomplished,  will  perfect 
the  will  of  God,  and  answer  the  prayers  of  his 
saints  ;  exhibit  the  happy  result  of  all  the  means 
of  grace,  and  give  to  virtue  and  piety,  their  end- 
less triumph  ;  and  thus  fill  the  universe  with  the  hal 
lelujahs  of  salvation  and  glory  to  God  and  the 
Lamb,  forever  and  ever,     Amen. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 

—♦«©««'- 

RESTORATIONIST  BOOK  DEPOSITORY. 

NO.  38,  COURT- STREET:::::::BOSTON. 

A  CONSTANT  supply  of  Books,  elucidating  and 
defending  the  scripture  doctrine  of  the  Final 
Restoration,  will  be  kept  for  sale  at  the  Office 
of  the  INDEPENDENT  MESSENGER,  No. 
38,  Court  Street,  Boston,  which  will  be  sold 
at  the  lowest  prices.  Also,  Pamphlets,  Sermons, 
Sabbath  School  Books,  &c.  Orders  respectful- 
ly solicited.     Among  the  works  on  hand  are 

Hudson's  Letters,  in  vindication  of  a  future  retri- 
bution.    Price  75  cents. 

Hudson's  Reply  to   Balfour's   Essays.     50   cents 

bound.     42  cents  in  boards. 

These  works  deserve  a  reading   and    consideration    which 
as  yet  but  few  have  given  them.     Those  therefore  who  wish 


to  make  themselves  acquainted   with    Mr.    Hudson's    views, 
arguments  and  reasonings,  more  fairly  and   thoroughly,    than 
through  the  partial  representation  of  his    opponents,    will    do 
well  to  purchase  and  read  these  Books  for  themselves. 
Winchester's  Dialogues  on  the  Final   Restoration, 

with  a  beautiful  engraved  likeness  of  the  Author. 
Smith  on  Divine  Government.     This  is  a    reprint 

from  the  last  London  edition.     Price  75  cents. 

Petitpierre  on  Divine  Goodness. 

Maynard's  Dialogues   on    Future    Probation ;    a 

Pamphlet  embracing  an  illustration  and  defence  of  the 
doctrine,  that  there  will  be  a  future  state  of  probation. 
Price  20  cts. 

Lectures  in  Defence  of  Divine  Revelation  by  Da- 
vid Pickering,  of  Providence,  R.  I.     Price  75  cents. 

A  Sermon,  delivered  in  Medway,  Mass.  by  Adin 

Ballou,  on  the  text,  "  For  what  is  a  man  profitted  if  he 
shall  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul  ?  what 
shall  a  man  give  in  exchange  for  his  soul."  Matt.  xvi.  26, 
&c  &c. 

Primary  Questions  on  Select  Portions  of  Scrip- 
ture, designed  for  Sabbath  Schools— by  Charles  Hudson. 
Price  10  cts.  single.    $  1  per  doz. 

Questions  on  Select  Portions  of  Scripture,  design- 
ed for  the  Higher  Classes  in  Sabbath  Schools — by  Charles 
Hudson.     Price  30  cts.  single — $3  per  doz. 
The  first  of  these  works  is  designed  for  a  first  book  in  Sab- 
bath Schools.     The  second  for  a  Bible   Class   Book.     They 
have  been  pronounced  by  competent  judges  to  be  superior  to 
any  works  of  the  kind  now  in  print. 

Hymn  Books  for  Sabbath  Schools.  $4  00  per  hun- 
dred— 6  1-4  cts.  single. 

Also,  Bibles  of  every  description,  at  the  very  low- 
est prices. 


OQBIB 


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